Ashura Kurobane: The Kanto Journey
by BookPrincess32
Summary: Ash was born Ashura Red Satoshi Kurobane from the legendary Dragon Duo and was raised by the most powerful Elite Four of the entire world. Now he is left to start a journey to learn more about the world, and he is going to prove to everyone that the intense lessons and trainings he received from his parents were not in vain, and to show what the PAL rulers' son could really do.
1. Prologue: The Beginning

**BP: Alright, I have been having this idea in mind, and would like to see it in writing. This is different from the other story Core AI and I have written and I actually have it on my mind for a while now, a story where Ash was instead the son of the Dragon Duo and his surname was Kurobane instead of Ketchum and what if he wasn't completely human. **

**If you guys can't remember, a long time ago, I did put up a poll for the Eeveelution that Ash should have as a starter and if Pakura and Amethyst should be two separate people, and this is the story I was using those polls for. I also had some wiki pages on them as a teaser, if you have read my wikia entries on them. For those who don't recognize the characters in this story, read the FS or AV for a rough idea, though you actually don't have to since this is a completely different story. **

**I am going to break the story into parts, one story for each region and since Ash isn't going to be fully human, he may unlock powers that are related to his heritage that he got from both his mother and father. **

**He'll most likely be smarter and more powerful as well, considering how he is the son of the most renowned Dragon Masters in the world and powerful Devil Hunters. Well, I'll let my story do the talking for me. Do tell me what you think of this prologue.**

An extremely alluring woman with a curvaceous figure sighed as she pushed back her long, shiny dark hair and blinked with her icy blue eyes at the newspaper in front of her. She was dressed in a simple pink lacy long dress with a black choker that had white lace around it. The dress made her round and huge belly obvious.

Amethyst Kurobane née Paradinight petted her enormous stomach, indicating she was late into her pregnancy, very close to giving birth in fact. She was still thinking about what she had heard from Arceus recently as she laid on the large yet comfortable canopy bed.

_"The one with the power to save the world approaches, born to the Dragon Duo who have a dark yet special heritage themselves, he would be the one who shall know best on how to combat the evil in the world and judge humanity fairly. No matter what path he chooses, he will be the one to bring peace for the Pokémon and do what is right and get rid of the evil by any means possible. He will rise to be greater than any Aura Guardian and be granted the title of The Chosen One, the Master of Legendaries. He would be born as end of May almost approaches."_

She could not help but think of this Prophecy Arceus gave her in a dream, and felt that it was related to her, considering Arceus chose to give the prophecy for her to hear and how it mentioned the Dragon Duo, which she was the female half of.

'What if it's directed at my child?' Amethyst thought, knowing she was due in May, which had already begun. She was worried for her child for there were dangers that PAL had yet to quell.

Due to multiple dimension travels over the years by various people with portal manipulation, portals sometimes unknowingly remain open, allowing various dangerous creatures to invade. Arceus knows where they came from, they could even come from whole other dimensions or timelines.

While it was true she could quickly dispatch of them, she had been sitting at home lately due to her pregnancy, as Shiki did not want her to overexert herself, lest she has a miscarriage.

"I won't overexert myself! I'll just use long range attacks!" Amethyst had told Shiki while she was pregnant.

"I'm afraid that would go under the heading, 'Overexertion.'" Her husband replied firmly, pushing her back down on the bed and setting a meal on a tray for her before taking his weapons and leaving the house, presumably to drive away the creatures that had arrived in their region from Arceus-knows-what dimension.

While she loved her husband very much, sometimes she wished he didn't treat her like some fragile glass, and even went as far as to bring meals to her like she doesn't know how to walk down to the kitchen and cook a meal herself.

'Wonder if those dimensions contain the universes depicted in games…' Amethyst mused. Now that she thought of it, if those are the 'villains' of the dimensions, surely there should be some heroes from there too. However, Shiki had said not to go in to a portal, in the instance that she can't find her way back because they do not know where those creatures come from.

Well, no matter. She was sure when she raised this child, the child would make a fine prince for PAL. After he does, she can travel around dimensions discovering new artifacts, weapons or even new powers. Just the thought of it made her smile, until she felt a sensation of wetness in her lower half, constantly leaking small amounts of watery fluid.

"Oh." Amethyst said, completely unfazed. "Well, time to call Shi-chan and the others." With that, she teleported to the nearest hospital, dialling the others once she landed on the hospital floor with extreme grace.

* * *

Two men, one with black hair and fringe swept to the side and amber eyes, and one with somewhat messy brown hair with baby blue eyes were outside the delivery room, waiting for the verdict and keeping watch of any paparazzi who would have the balls to try and get a glimpse of the princess.

Anyone who did so, their leader Shiki had authorized them to use lethal force. For good measure, the curtains of the delivery room were closed in order to prevent the paparazzi from taking pictures of her while she was giving birth. After all, this was a private moment for Amethyst.

While neither of them believed their own regional paparazzi would do so, it was other regional paparazzi they were worried about. Every once in a while, some of them from other regions would come in to cover a story, which they would allow, but many a times, they have overstepped their boundaries as PAL is full of celebrities and many famous people usually would go there to hone their skills due to PAL's progressive nature.

This led to Shiki authorizing Hunters to use lethal force against paparazzi if needed, and would not be persuaded otherwise even by his wife Amethyst. This was because of the one time Amethyst was at the dressing room prepping for her exhibition performance at a Master Class Showcase in PAL, and Shiki had caught one of them searching through her underwear drawer, wanting to know her measurements for a magazine.

Let's just say that there was almost nothing left of the reporter by the time Shiki was done, and Shiki was drenched in head to toe in blood alongside the rest of the room.

"This is ridiculous. Who would even want to have a scoop of this, Jude?" The baby-blue eyed man, asked the person next to him.

"Paparazzi would do anything for a good story, Phillip." The man named Jude replied. In truth, both should have been referred to as boys due to their youthful looks, but their age suggested anything but. "Besides, Amethyst has to deal with one painful matter at hand. She doesn't need paparazzi to be added to her plate."

Meanwhile, on the inside of the delivery room, a nurse said, "Come on, one more push, Princess Amethyst! I could see the head!"

Amethyst was holding onto a bespectacled man with messy black hair and purple eyes' hand, pushing as hard as she could while lying on the hospital bed. The man himself was soothing her by stroking her hair, trying to ease her pain.

"Come on, just one more push, Amy-chan." The man said, stroking her hand with his free hand.

"Alright, alright, Shi-chan! I'm trying!" Amethyst huffed, the pain of labor not affecting her one bit, though a sheen of sweat was on her forehead. After all, she's faced worse when she was battling entities who invade her region.

"On more push, I can see the body!" The nurse told Amethyst, as crying was heard. Amethyst took a deep breath, knowing the baby was almost out. She gave one more push, and the nurse extracted a crying baby from her body attached to her umbilical cord, which was cut by the doctor. The nurse dried it with a towel and said, "It's a boy!"

"A boy!" Amethyst and Shiki exclaimed in joy, as the nurse handed her the bundle of joy, who stopped crying. A cap of black hair covered the new-born's head did not indicate whose hair he inherited for both parents had black hair, the icy blue eyes that looked up at Amethyst indicated he got the eyes from his mother.

"He has your eyes, Amy-chan." Shiki said, smiling down at the baby Amethyst held in her arms.

"Why, aren't you just the cutest!" Amethyst cooed, ticking the baby on his belly, making the baby gurgle happily at the touch. She already felt herself healing from the labor already, as the doctor began pushing the umbilical cord back into her and stitching her up. However, she had the feeling with her healing factor, she wouldn't need stitches much longer.

"What are we going to name him?" Shiki asked, taking the baby from her so that the baby could see its father. "Hello there, I'm your daddy."

"I got one." Amethyst replied. "Ashura Red Satoshi Kurobane!"

"That's a mouthful." Shiki said wryly.

"Exactly. His short name would be Ash Kurobane, so no one would suspect." Amethyst answered happily.

"But his surname…" Shiki started, and Amethyst waved him off.

"Don't worry. We'll teach him all that we know. I can't wait!" Amethyst squealed. "And we have Jude and Phillip to help us raise this kid."

"Now, now. We still don't know whether he has our powers. It might not manifest so early." Shiki tried to dissuade her, but Amethyst was adamant.

"Once we take him home, we'll teach him all that we know, and that's final!" Amethyst declared.

* * *

And show his powers baby Ash did. It was a lazy Sunday, about two weeks after Ash was born. Amethyst was humming and cooking dinner for herself and Shiki while Ash was in the crib next to her with a stuffed Eevee, every so often making babbling noises at his mother, who smiled indulgently at him.

"Don't worry, your father would be back soon." Amethyst cooed, with baby Ash babbling happily. For a two-week-old, he sure developed fast. Then again, he was only a quarter human, as both his parents are hybrids. It was also clear that other than his mother's eyes, his features were all from his father. That pleased both of them greatly, and Amethyst had gushed that he would grow up to be a handsome and talented person, just like his father.

Amethyst hummed and checked on the Creamy Vegetarian Korma in the pot, and smiled as she added a bit more potatoes into it.

She vaguely registered that Shiki had returned and had sat down on the couch close to them earlier, doing some stuff relating to his job as a Defense Attorney. She never thought she would enjoy a day like this. Ever since she gave birth to her son, she had been giving herself some leave in order to take care of their son.

While she missed prosecuting cases as a Chief Prosecutor, it was necessary for the sake of her son. It was a good thing there hadn't been any dimensional invasions in a while, nor demons or any other drama or action for these two weeks.

This made her happy, as Shiki would be able to spend more time with her as well, barring work. She grinned down at her son as she fried up some Honey Marinated Rib Eye Steak.

"You happy, Ashy?" she cooed at her son.

Ash replied by gurgling happily, waving his stuffed Eevee. He was about two weeks old, but Amethyst was almost sure he was more of the size of a six-month-old infant, making Shiki joke she might have fed him way too much milk.

Shiki and Amethyst had given up on trying to figure out what was "normal" for Ash, considering they themselves were never normal. They didn't even know if any other hybrids had a child like this, and specifically their combination of hybrids, so there was nothing for them to compare the situation to.

Despite this, Amethyst was pretty relaxed about this. Although it was annoying that they had to keep buying new clothes for him. As a last resort, they stopped going to stores, and Shiki himself stitched clothes for him, and magically expanded them if Ash ever grew too big for them.

While Amethyst protested at the lack of variety this would have, Shiki had assured him that he would keep up to the trend- why else would he be deemed as one of the more fashionable people in the world alongside Jude?

"You seem happy, Amy-chan." Shiki was amused as he walked into the kitchen, catching the Eevee plush Ash had thrown, and placing it back into the crib.

"Of course I am, Shi-chan." Amethyst answered, grinning. "Why did you need to ask?"

"No reason." Shiki shrugged, tasting the soup right off the pot without even blowing. "Just thinking."

"Careful with that." Amethyst said, directing her attention back to the cooking. "You might burn your tongue."

"Nah, I'm good. I have chocolate." Shiki grinned. At the word chocolate, Ash babbled.

"Do you want one?" Shiki looked down at Ash. Ash's eyes gleamed with excitement. He really did like chocolate, though he tended to make a complete mess while eating them as they would usually melt it before feeding it to him so he could swallow it. Ash made little grabby motions with his hands and Shiki had to smile.

"Hey, you'll spoil his dinner." Amethyst protested.

"All he drinks is milk. A little chocolate won't ruin it." Shiki waved her off. "Besides, look how much he consumes a day. I'm sure he'll be hungry again by dinner."

"He'll be eating solids before we know it." Amethyst sighed wistfully. "He even started teething."

"Yeah, yeah." Shiki sauntered over to the refrigerator, but not without letting his hand brush through Amethyst's hair, who only hummed in content as a reply. He opened the refrigerator, and searched for a bar of chocolate for himself and his son Ash.

Smiling, he returned to Amethyst, but when he saw Ash he froze, dropping the bar to the ground.

"Amethyst." Shiki called to his wife. He only called his wife Amethyst when something serious happened. "Why does Ash have your katana?"

"What?", when Amethyst looked at Ash she almost burnt the steak, but she froze, too, not able to move further. "How? It was all the way in the living room just a second ago!"

"What the hell happened, Amethyst?" Shiki took a few steps forward. Amethyst's katana was out of its scabbard, how the hell had Ash even manage that? How had he gotten it from its place at the couch all the way in the living room?

"I don't know I was…" Amethyst stammered, looking at Ash who was just grinning up at them, trying to lift the sword that was way too heavy for him. "How…I…who'd…"

Shiki stopped again when he saw Ash move the katana out of the corner of his eye. And he remembered how Ash tends to put everything in his mouth that he could get his hands on… This was bad, really bad! "Ashura…no! Stop!"

Thankfully he did stop, but to keep his attention Shiki moved closer to their son again. Behind him, Amethyst was and he couldn't help but look at his wife, who was frozen in shock and trying to register what happened.

"Get the katana away from him!" Amethyst shouted out. They had to make sure Ash was safe first.

Keeping Ash's attention by talking, Shiki reached the crib. He gently took the sword out of Ash, which he was reluctant to let go of. Though he was stronger than a human child, Shiki still had the upper hand here. Practically running away from Ash, Shiki put his wife's weapon as far out of his reach as he could, namely, into their bedroom. For good measure, he locked the door.

Ash really wasn't happy about having the weapon taken away from him, and Shiki could see he was about to start crying. He quickly picked him up from the crib and rocked him.

"Hey, Ashy, listen to me." Ash looked up at him, face scrunched up, a tear rolling down his cheek. Shiki wondered if Ash had gotten that expressive streak from Jude's babysitting. "We have to take care of your mother okay?"

Although Shiki didn't expect Ash to understand, Ash blinked at Amethyst who was behind him, frozen at what had happened. Ash nodded, surprising Shiki, and Shiki walked them over and stood next to Amethyst.

"Ash is okay" he said in soothing tone. "I put your weapon away, and he's fine." Shiki gently let his hand rest on his wife's back, starting to rub it. Eventually Ash joined in, reaching out to his mother with his little hands. Amethyst shakingly took Ash, and looked at him. Amethyst sighed and leaned forward, letting her forehead rest against Shiki's chest.

"I'm sorry." Amethyst said.

"Shhh", Shiki wrapped his arms around Amethyst, Ash in between them. "Don't apologize for this, ever."

"He almost got hurt. Because of me." Amethyst was panicking again.

"Uh-uh." Ash made a noise and they both looked down at their son.

"How did you do that?" Amethyst quietly asked. They still had no idea. He had to have some sort of powers to be able to reach it, right? This made Amethyst's hopes go up.

Ash blinked at the toy train he had in the living room. Suddenly, the toy floated and disappeared, and reappeared next to him. Shiki deftly caught the toy train, blinking at what Ash just did.

"He…he…" Amethyst lifted Ash to her eye level, inspecting him like she saw Ash for the first time. Ash just started to giggle. "He's got powers!" Amethyst somehow regained her cheerful self and hugged Ash like there's no tomorrow.

"Oh, he is going to be so much trouble…" Shiki muttered, groaning at how Amethyst was right. Their son looked up at him, a mischievous smile on his face and Amethyst squealed at what Ash could do.

"Time for training, little one!" Amethyst was cooing at Ash. "Oh, two weeks old and he can use teleportation on objects? It's just too good of an opportunity to pass! I'm going to teach him all that I know!"

Shiki sighed. So much for a normal Sunday…

And that was when Amethyst started Ash's training, and no one could dissuade her from it, as she said Ash'll thank her later.

* * *

For the next decade, Amethyst had rallied her husband and her fellow Elites to help train and teach Ash all that they knew and even designed a schedule for it, ranging from lessons on aura, to etiquette lessons and even ways to kill.

It wasn't really going through training as it was surviving, as at one point, Amethyst had decided to put him out in the field to force him to fight for his life. None of them showed mercy when it came to the missions, and he had spent some of his life trying to survive those missions, as none of them protected him from their adversaries.

Ash had learnt the hard way that anything could happen, even during training.

_A five-year-old Ash and his father were sparring without the use of their weapons in the woods, and Ash went down with a punch to the side, causing him to fall to the ground._

"_Ow…" Ash rubbed his head. _

"_Come on. You could've dodged that." Shiki offered a hand up, which Ash took. _

"_Ouch…dad, must you be so hard on me?" Ash rubbed his eyes. _

"_Of course not. Do you think adversaries would give mercy even to a child? That's exactly why I'm not letting up on you." Shiki replied. _

"_Ugh." Ash groaned. _

"_I might not always be there to protect you, Ash. I want to make sure my son can hold his own when he's alone." Shiki went on, knowing how Ash would go for a Pokémon Journey in five years' time. _

"_Fine." Ash sighed._

"_Ready? Let's try again." Shiki replied, readying his stance. Ash barely had time to block as his father landed the first punch with his right arm, forcing Ash to block with his wrist, and tried to kick Shiki on the legs, but he jumped. That gave him an opening to duck under Shiki's second punch, and then sidestepping to Shiki's left, away from the overhead kick._

_Shiki then turned around to finish the kick, forcing Ash to bring up both arms to block. He then ducked underneath Shiki's left leg, as the latter used it to spring himself up to perform another airborne high kick with his right leg with his hands supporting his body. Ash retaliated by hitting Shiki on the stomach, only for Shiki to get onto his feet by backflipping. Shiki wasted no time as he immediately went for a right hook, forcing Ash to block with his right forearm, and then with his left. A jump back was taken to avoid Shiki's right jab. _

_Ash then retaliated, trying to deliver a right hook from behind- which missed as Shiki titled his head to dodge it. A leg sweep tripped Ash as he fell to the ground again, at the mercy of Shiki's stomp. However, Ash managed to teleport away. _

"_I suppose that's one way to end the battle." Shiki shook his head. "But really Ash, sometimes the opponent would chase you down, and you won't be able to run from them. In this case, you'd have to stand your ground and fight back. Get back out here, and show me what you've got, Ash!"_

_However, a rustle startled him and he realized something was not right. It was a menacing aura. "Ash?" Shiki looked through the bushes, instead seeing a twenty-foot-tall purple skinned monster, who most likely came in through those portals. It roared when it saw him, and charged at him. _

_Shiki made use of a tree to propel himself towards the creature, and as he got closer to the monster, it swiped at him, but he dodged to the side with ease and delivered two punches to the monster that actually lifted it up, and slammed it to the ground. Shiki continued with a stomp from above with both feet. The creature grabbed Shiki and threw him against a tree, but he regained balance mid-flight and ran towards the creature, dodging its punch towards the ground, which shook the ground. _

_It did an overhead swipe which Shiki blocked with his left arm and stood his ground. He then jumped and uppercutted the monster before landing on the ground and in front of it. The monster tried to swipe at him, but he ran and slid underneath it, attacking it as he slid from below, sending the monster flying. _

_The monster only staggered a little, and Shiki knew it was because he didn't put enough strength in his attack, so he punched it twice in the head after leaping on it. However, the monster swiped at him but not before Shiki grabbed its arm, twisted, and punched the monster again._

_Shiki propelled himself in front of the monster's face and dodged a swipe, kicking its face and landing on the ground. Just when he did so, however, Ash walked out into the clearing, muttering about teleporting too far. The monster noticed Ash and charged towards him, and got his stomach chomped on, before being thrown away. _

"_ASH!" Shiki was about to catch him, but Ash opened his eyes, and made use of his momentum to jump off the nearest tree to land a punch against the monster, which the monster tried to catch. _

_The resulting clash cracked the ground and blew several trees back, and Ash was slowly breaking the monster's arm. When the monster's arm snapped, both got thrown in the directions they were facing, with the monster disintegrating and Ash being caught by Shiki. _

"_You're so careless, Ash." Shiki sighed, but smiled. "Well done, though." _

"_Thanks, dad." Ash replied. The bite the monster did to him didn't even hurt one bit thanks to his heritage and natural healing factor. _

"_That's why you have to get stronger. So that you can protect others from this, and yourself." Shiki indicated the empty air where the monster had disintegrated._

However, it was experiences like this that allowed him to unlock some of his powers from his heritage, much to Amethyst's excitement, knowing there were so many possible training sessions she could put him through to help control his powers.

Not only that, he had learned a lot about Pokémon from all the regions and mechanics such as Mega Evolution and Z-Moves through an internship at PAL's Regional Pokémon Lab and from the PokéResort his mother had built to house all the Pokémon that followed her home.

According to his father, his mother had some sort of charm that made wild Pokémon want to follow her home and they had refused to leave her side, so the PAL Elites were forced to build a facility to let them live in to feed them and care for them. It was to the point the Pokémon even snuck into shops and posed as Pokémon Dolls in hopes she would buy them from the store.

"_On the bright side, I don't need to catch any Pokémon!" His mother had said sweetly. "I hope Ash gets my charm. That way, his journey would be much easier!" _

"_Except your charm extends to other living creatures, not just Pokémon!" His father shot back. "How many Pet Day Cares, Pet Resorts, Zoos, Bird Parks and Aquariums from other countries have you put out of business because of it?" _

However, he felt sometimes the PAL Elites could go over-the-top with their Pokémon training, with them preferring to do practical with him through Pokémon Battles, rather than teaching him the theory. This had resulted in his first Pokémon Eevee (given to him by his mother on his fourth birthday) fainting multiple times due to him not knowing the movesets Eevee could learn to counter or avoid the opponents' attacks and what moves would be strong against them for the first few days. To make things worse, the PAL Elites would use different Pokémon for every time they battle and would "cheat" by using Mega Evolution or Z-Moves to make training more difficult.

Nevertheless, he decided to make up for it by listening to online lectures and reading books on battle strategies, Pokémon Breeding, Pokémon Behavioural Patterns, recommended training regimes for every Pokémon type and even ways to recipes and tips on properly nourishing the Pokémon under his care.

The hands-on training also helped him with learning how to understand Pokémon through aura within days and the various types and their advantages and disadvantages. In fact, he was almost sure he could rattle off the types a Pokémon is strong or weak against if someone just named the Pokémon. In fact, this also allowed his Eevee to evolve to an Espeon.

The only breaks he got from all those was on Sundays, but he liked to sit in and read more about the concepts of various powers that he might acquire and already have due to his heritage, which was what he was currently doing. Ash simply devoured books during breaks- one after another, he absorbed the information and remembered them all with perfect clarity.

His father shook his head, saying he got this trait of learning new things from both of them combined, and his mother was gushing how he was going up to university level material already and how easy it was for him to learn things from them. What he liked reading about in particular was science, law, psychology, the arts and history. Currently, he was reading up on the concepts of different types of powers wielded by various PAL people.

Based on what he read and from the lessons from the PAL Elites, which included his parents, Ash realized there were different types of powers he could have had and their differences- Aura, Psychic, Magic, Demonic-Based and in his case, Legacies.

Aura was what allowed people to read minds and actions of another being, sense other Auras and view surroundings even with a blindfold, allows users to view through some objects, projecting one's Aura; such as to create barriers or attacks, and even communicate with Pokémon and understand their language. Not only that, it was said to be a manifestation of one's soul and can be used for a wide range of abilities, only limited to the imagination and are dependent on a number of factors, such as experience, training, and innate skill. Ash was most familiar with this, as he had seen the Elites use their aura in a variety of ways.

In fact, he had already unlocked what they called a Special Ability, which his parents said was the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user and would be much easier to develop. However, it was also easier to lose control considering they start off as being more powerful, the power having been naturally developed as opposed to developing it through training. His mother had told him not to rely on his Special Ability too much due to this reason. While he can use Aura in its base form and he won't be hurt as long as Aura is up, he wondered what other aura abilities he can develop.

Psychic on the other hand was powers which originate from the mind or mental ability which allowed one to affect or perceive things through various mental forms. Amethyst had said this was dependent on how strong the mind was. If powerful enough, they can do things such as control minds of other people or generate illusions that are realistic to the point where they can confuse all the senses of the target, making it impossible to break free and would even be strong enough to kill the victim. Ash wondered just how far the illusions can expand to, as his parents had said they were limitless. This made him question if he could affect people at a multiverse level.

Magical Power was something unique, allowing things such as the use of rituals, symbols, actions, gestures, language, etc., to exploit supernatural forces to varying degrees, with the main thing being the ability to cast spells with essentially limitless possibilities for what they can accomplish. Magical Power was what he'd use to use weapons called ÄRMs, which were artifacts known to every resident born in Caldia City and all of them were first invented by the First Princess, Pakura Goldstein and later replicated by other magic users through the use of special metallurgy, giving them extraordinary power in the form of normal accessories.

It would also give him the option to use what they called the Pactum Card, which apparently required a partner, if his parents were any indication. According to his father, Pactum is a contract used by many magic users in Cladia City, though it had been expanded to aura users. Pactums can be created with any magic or aura user. The partner with whom the Pactum is formed would attain abilities related to their personalities and possibly allow the partner to help each other control their powers, as his father mentioned making it with his mother to help her control her magic.

The Pactum Card also allowed the partners to summon each other at any time, or teleport to each there's side. With the incant Veni Foras or Admeo, followed by the partner's name, the user would be able to summon the partner or go to him or her respectively, moving both living and inanimate objects across space instantly. It also granted the user an artifact to act as the main weapon when fighting and our abilities and weapons depend on the individual.

To do so, someone would have to act as the Bonder, to draw up a magical circle via a spell invented by Pakura Goldstein. A ritual or vow is made to seal the contract, normally a kiss on the lips between the two involved, or blood exchanging, for those who are uncomfortable with such things. A card would then be created as proof of the contract.

The Pactum Card has three modes: The Tempus Form, The Amour Form, and the Cosplay Form, which would be randomly chosen if the cards were activated to use in battle. The Armor Form and Cosplay Form would usually leave them in new outfits to fight in, and would stay until we deactivate the power in the card. Tempus mode, on the other hand, simply allowed someone to the artefact in question. Tempus Form be replaced by the Perpetuus Form if it was the Permanent Pact.

The Permanent Pact can be differentiated by a symbol on top of the card in all the forms, which the Temporary Pact would not have. The Permanent Pact would also allow the user to choose the form they want to tap into, unlike the Temporary Pact. While a magic or aura user can make many Temporary Pacts, there is only one Permanent Pact they can make, and once it is made, the other Temporary Pacts made would be dissolved, and both parties must be at a certain age before this can be made.

Apparently, the Permanent Pact tapped into the power of the bond between two people, which allows them to access more powerful abilities and artifacts. The stronger the bond, the more powerful the abilities and artifacts provided by the Pactum Cards are. His father had said he was too young to learn how a Temporary Pact turned into a Permanent Pact, while his mother pouted, had agreed not to say a word about it to him, but she said he could come to their room if he wanted in case he couldn't sleep over this fact. Unknown to him, she had a devious plan in her mind

This was how Ash had learnt the hard way of what it was when he had walked in to his parents…ahem wrestling naked in the room when he couldn't sleep and hoped to sleep with his parents for comfort, which his mother said he could. Not only were they not embarrassed at being caught by their kid, his mother had squealed and said, "This is a good time to teach him how the Tempus form is replaced by the Perpetuus Form and to teach him Sex Ed!" This made Ash realize his mother had tricked him, and now he was in for a lesson of his lifetime.

Let's just say he still hadn't mentally recovered from the images, but was forced to suck it up as the son of the Dragon Duo. At least he knew a lot about Sex Ed and how to spot signs as to whether someone is hitting on him.

Ash shuddered at that memory, but continued to mentally classify the types of powers he could have with his heritage and under the PAL Elites' tutelage.

Demonic Powers on the other hand, was something unique only to him and his parents due to their heritage. Apparently, his parents were from the Demon World, and they could create, shape and manipulate energies of demonic origin and can enhance their physical stats and other aura, psychic or magical abilities with their super forms called their Devil Mode. This unique type of energy even allowed them to combine it with other powers to give them the edge in battle against powerful entities, even against those with purifying powers, which demons are supposedly weak to.

The fifth one was called Legacies. It was what Phillip described as superhuman powers which are said to be gifts, from Lorien, to all the Loric citizens called the Garde and the source of the Legacies comes from the planet Lorien itself. Phillip said that Legacies are a result of manipulation of the pituitary gland in the brain by the Entity and that the most powerful Legacy is usually developed last, known as the "Master Legacy" and is combat-focused. Each Garde has more advanced abilities in terms of strength and speed than any human and all of them receive Telekinesis. Of course, Ash didn't need any aura to use it.

It was pretty surprising for him to have powers Loric Garde have called Legacies at the young age of four. His parents were surprised as well, considering only full Garde get those powers. After all, children resulting from the relationship between humans and Loric do not develop Legacies but are nonetheless believed to be exceptional and gifted. Shiki had pointed out that Amethyst herself unlocked them due to her demonic heritage as she is not half-human like he was.

Furthermore, Ash was only a quarter-human. Perhaps this was why, at the age of seven he was tall for his age, and could have passed for a ten-year-old. While Ash hated looking older than he really was, Shiki had assured him that he'd stop aging at some point, like him and his mother, who hadn't really changed throughout his growing-up period.

His powers showing themselves, especially the Legacies, had made his mother so pleased that she kicked his training up a notch and even rewarded him with Key Stone for his next birthday. She also promised to let everyone take him on their missions as their "sidekick". After all, this would also help him train in a real battlefield as opposed to a training stimulation since he performed well during real-life circumstances. If that's the case, why not?

"Chairman William doesn't need to know about it." His mother had declared. "I know I'm being hard on you sending you into combat like this, but it's the only way you'll learn."

That was how Ash had made his first kill at eight-years-old, during a mission with his father. At first, he was scared, but his father had told him that he did what he needed to survive, and that's all it matters. Besides, it was in self-defense and the person he killed was willing to attack him or even kill him, so all bets were off.

His parents had also told him and outright admitted that not all adults were right, and if he knew he was right against a grown-up in a situation, he was taught to stand his ground even if the grown-up believed that children should listen to adults.

"_What if they try to attack me?" Ash asked them._

"_Then you fight back." Shiki answered firmly. "Kill them if you must."_

"_No mercy to my peers?" Ash also quietly asked. _

"_No mercy." Amethyst confirmed. "Do what you must to execute justice."_

They were right. Adults could be wrong. There was one time they hired a babysitter to take care of him, and let's just say she was abusive and threatened to kill him if he told the parents what she did to him, and had believed that his parents would believe her over him, as she was the grown-up.

Whatever his parents was teaching him must have taken root by now, for he simply grabbed the kitchen knives, and started tossing them rapidly at the babysitter. Let's just say the babysitter was a new wall decoration, and his parents even praised him for a job well done and for not taking shit from anyone.

And then there was the attempted kidnapping incidents due to him being the son of the Dragon Duo, where adults tried to lure him with candy to their car, or just outright grabbing him, telling him that kids should follow whatever adults tell them. How stupid did they think he was? So his simple reply was a slit to the throat, or for males, castration. He'd seen his mum do that, so he figured he could do the same.

Ash shook his head. True, his parents, especially his mother, could be way over-the-top when it came to his lessons and training, saying he had much to learn. However, he knew it was for his own sake, as the real world wouldn't be very kind to him, especially when he goes out on his Pokémon journey. Furthermore, as the son to two PAL rulers, he would likely have a lot expectations by the people he'd meet.

Aside from being raised in a harsh training regime and a bizarre house in Caelum City (that looks completely normal from the outside) with so many functions he couldn't name with each room having a specific theme to it and even having secret rooms, he can't say he wasn't raised by loving parents.

After all, they willingly respected all his wishes, such as not wanting to attend socialite parties after the one time almost got him tricked to a marriage contract with a much older woman, who saw him as the key to his parents' assets.

Since then, at least one PAL Elite would stay at home with him whenever there were such parties and either took him to various places such as Disneyland or cruises or they would teach him something he was eager to know about.

"Ash! Time for dinner!" His mother had called out to him, snapping him out of his musings.

Ash smiled and closed his book, knowing his mother would have prepared delicious food as usual. He got up and followed his mother down to the dinner table, where Jude and Phillip were also sitting with his father. Amethyst was humming as she placed the dishes on the table- Grilled Rump Steak with French Fries, Lamb Casserole, Margarita Pizza, Irish Stew with Strawberry Cheese Cake as dessert. As for drinks, it was Banana Drama, a kind of smoothie.

"Looks great, Amy!" Jude grinned at the dinner, giving her a thumbs up as Ash sat down. Meanwhile, Phillip was trying to get the flying and fake colourful butterflies away from him. It was part of the decorations in the dining room that glowed in the dark when the lights were off, but what Ash liked about this decoration that they somehow never disturb the food, instead flying around near the ceiling. He had to admit his father was creative when it came to the house, as that was just one aspect of the decorations you can't perceive as normal.

As they settled into dinner, Amethyst said, "So Ashy…I got news for you."

"What is it, mum?" Ash asked, as he cut into his Grilled Rump Steak.

"I've signed you up for the Hunter Exam!" Amethyst clapped her hands with glee. "It takes place tomorrow."

"WHAT?" Phillip choked on his Banana Drama. "ARE YOU CRAZY, AMY?"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE HUNTER EXAM IS ABOUT!?" Jude was shocked. "HE'S ONLY NINE!"

"Turning ten soon." Amethyst corrected them, completely laidback about this fact. "Relax, you two. We've trained him very well over these years, and he had even more training thanks to the Gate Of Training since 3 days here is 180 days over there. Besides, he's not completely human, he can handle it."

"What's your plan?" Jude was still apprehensive.

"Here's how it goes. He's going to get his Hunter's License, and this would bestow a number of desirable benefits on him. The benefits I want for my son from that license are the reduced legal responsibility for murder, privilege to bypass certain age-restricted laws and all public facilities can be used at no cost and provided at first class. Nothing short of the best for my son, after all. Unfortunately, only the original recipient of the license has access to the privileges of a Hunter, meaning someone who bought or stole a license will not receive any special benefits. That's why I'm entering him." Amethyst declared.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Ash." Shiki added. "But well, you've proven time and again you perform very well under real circumstances. If you're alright with it, of course."

"Adults die in this Hunter Exam." Phillip frowned. "You sure this is wise?"

"He'll be fine! He's our son." Amethyst replied sweetly. "We trained him all his life. You're alright with that, right?"

Jude had to kick him under the table before Ash realized he was talking to him. "Oh, I'm alright with this. It'll give me something else to do."

Shiki smiled and said, "Good. Show us what you have learnt from all of us at the Hunter Exam."

"He'll be outstanding!" Amethyst gushed.

Phillip closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright, we'll go tomorrow. For now, let's just continue dinner."

* * *

'Hmm, there are a lot of people.' Ash mused, looking at the crowd of people. He was given access to the meeting area the moment he figured out the key was to get a credit card from someone named Shanks, who lived in Luonto City, the City of Fashion and to shop in a Department Store called Modă's Paradise. From there, he took a secret elevator to a basement, where many people were crowded around.

"Hey, a kid? You have no place here." A gruff looking man with a beard said to Ash, who ignored him. Ash knew that he'll be an easy target to others. He inwardly smirked. He can't wait to show them all what he can really do.

Just then, a door opened and a man with dark grey fizzled hair and light grey eyes stepped out. He was wearing a long sleeved dirty white jacket over top a plain black v-shaped shirt. A messy unhung red tie was seen over this. He also wore a pair of dirty white trousers held up by a brown belt, with the end of the trousers being rolled up showing leg hair, with a pair of loose black boots. Despite his gruffy appearance, Ash knew he was the examiner, and not to underestimate him.

"Everyone, welcome to the 808th Hunter Exam!" The examiner said. "I heard 1,500 people made it here this year. Thing is...the examiner from the next phase told me to narrow it down to 300."

'There won't be a next phase, if I have anything to say about it.' Ash thought.

"I didn't think we'd get this way." The examiner went on. "What kind of test should I give you?"

Silence.

"Hmm…you guys want to duke it out?" The examiner suggested. The examinees looked at each other, frightened or excited at the prospect. Ash just looked bored, wanting it to start already.

"We have the time." The examiner said, checking his watch. "Let's see…one hour until lunch. Knock out five people. Come see me after you take the badges of five others. I'll be waiting over in that stairwell." As he said so, he pointed at the door he came from.

"The test will begin…when I close that door." With that, he walked towards the door, opened it, walked through it…and closed the door. As he walked to the stairwell, he inwardly predicted that only 150-200 people would make it, taking into account double . As he heard the fighting, he noted all exams should be like this, to weed out the weak so the strong remain.

Unknown to him however, pandemonium ensured among the examinees. All the other examinees saw a blur, before they were knocked out. It flitted through the crowd, and people collapsed in its wake. Blood spluttered at times, indicating whatever it was had a weapon with him.

That blur was Ash. He had only one thought, 'I'll be the only one to pass this year. Nothing less would do.'

Everyone else thought as they lied on the ground after Ash attacked them was, 'Yeah. We were confident. We thought we put in the effort. We practiced until we coughed up blood. We perfected our combo moves. We failed because we were ignorant of the existence of prodigies beyond our imagination.'

'Here was someone who was born to be a first-rate Hunter. It's as if we were racing down the highway at 60km/hr and he just breezed past with 300km/hr. No, even more than that. We were snails compared to him.' Another person thought, as Ash knocked him perfectly on the neck area, knocking him on the ground.

"Who are you?" The same man who taunted Ash panicked, as Ash approached him, smirking.

"I'm Ashura Red Satoshi Kurobane. Son to the Dragon Duo." Ash smirked. "Remember it well."

'No wonder he was that good. He was their son! What was all our effort for? From his perspective, we accomplished nothing.' He thought, before Ash knocked him out with a single blow. 'This'll be the last year I'm trying out. I'm pretty sure others would feel the same.'

The examiner nodded away at the stairwell, and blinked when the door finally opened, and Ash walked towards him.

'Opps, I fell asleep.' The examiner thought, and said, "Finally, the first successful candidate of the First Phase." As he checked his watch, he exclaimed, "Hey, it's been half an hour! What are the others doing?"

"They're asleep." Ash replied nonchalantly.

"Huh?" The examiner was puzzled, and widened his eyes as Ash dragged an enormous bag of tags behind him.

"I simply took my time to collect those badges." Ash shrugged. As the examiner ran into the room, he almost screamed at the sight of the knocked-out examinees and in some cases, sliced up examinees.

"I doubt they'll wake up for a week." Ash grinned. "Still want to do the Second Phase?"

"There's no need." Chairman William said, when the Examiner shakingly called him the report on the results. "His skill's already been proven." After all, what else is there to expect from a son of the two PAL rulers? He was impressed at how much Ash had grown and how much he had learnt from both his parents, and to an extent, Jude and Phillip.

"Well then…Ash, Examinee 508…" The examiner said. "The only one this year to pass the Hunter Exam!"

"Thanks." Ash smirked, as he made his way out to get his Hunter's License. "My parents would be so proud of me."

Later…

"I'M SO PROUD!" Amethyst squealed, hugging Ash like there's no tomorrow when he showed off his new Hunter's License. "Ooooh, this calls for a CELEBRATION!"

"Well done, son!" Shiki clapped him on the back, as Amethyst jumped around in celebration. "Our son just became a little Hunter."

"He still has the Hunter's Association test to take." Jude sighed.

"Oh, that can wait. After all, he can take those tests when he grows up and journeys here." Amethyst replied dismissively. "But now, it's another thing to celebrate!"

"Another?" Ash was puzzled.

* * *

"I can't believe you forgot your birthday!" Shiki laughed at his son, who pouted at him. Both of them were sitting at peaceful small park gazing at the stars. The full moon's light bathed the dark green trees and bushes that had flowers in them, making them seem as if they were sparkling.

A few Volbeat and Illumise flew around in the sky with their bodies glowing a greenish-yellow color which along with the shining white stars, lit up the dark sky making the scene look like it came straight from a painting.

"Hey, Ash." Shiki had a smile on his lips. "I wanted to give you something for your birthday today. Call it our first present."

"What is it, dad?" Ash asked, tilting his head.

Shiki took off a ring with the image of a skull on the center of it off his finger, and handed it to him. "This is a ring Dimensional ÄRM called Zipper. It allows the user to store his or her ÄRMs or weapons in an extra-dimensional space for storage. Me and your mum, well, we have stored some of them in here, just for you. We feel you could handle them, now you have a Hunter's License."

"Cool!" Ash was excited to see what kind of ÄRMs they had stored inside for him. He hugged his father in thanks and said, "Thanks dad!"

"No problem, Ashy." He smiled at his son and got back up on his feet. "Let's go home now. I'm sure they are waiting for us."

Ash nodded held his dad's hand as they began walking towards their home. As they walked in, Jude, Amethyst and Phillip shouted, "Happy birthday, Ash!" with his mother pulling out party poppers in their faces. Ash noted all of them dressed nicely for his birthday, with Jude and Phillip in tuxedos, and his mother in a pretty pink plain ballgown. Her hair was done up in ringlets and had a tiara in her hair.

There was a pile of presents on the table, and the decorations had paper pink lanterns with a gold "10" on them to hang on the kitchen. It looked like Amethyst had also conjured up dark blue and gold streamers to be draped around the bizarre plants and trees outside and even turned them into gold in colour.

Shiki shook his head in amusement, as he added another present into the pile. Amethyst had prepared a delicious feast for Ash's birthday for all of them: Caribbean Chicken Salad, Crochette di Patate, Lasagna, Beef Burgers with Fries, Salmon Handrolls with Berry Burst as a drink, which was really just raspberry, strawberry and lemon mixed with soda.

"Dessert would come later!" Amethyst said, holding up a glass of drink. "This is to celebrate Ash's becoming of a Hunter and his birthday! Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Everyone chorused, clinking their glasses together. Ash blushed at them celebrating him.

"So, Ash, ready for your Pokémon Journey?" Jude nodded towards his Espeon, acknowledging the fact that Espeon had came so far from being received by Ash as an Eevee during their training.

"Of course I am." Ash replied, noting how exquisite the Caribbean Chicken Salad was. "After all I have been through, I am prepared to the best I can be. I'll do the packing of my bag after celebrating my birthday."

"He'll survive." Shiki smiled. "Listen Ash, you want to start off with the Kanto Region, right?"

"Yes." Ash nodded. "The world is a big place, dad. Like you told me, I should explore the regions, discovering more about the world and honestly, more about myself."

"Wise words, Ash." Jude nodded, as he ate the Salmon Handrolls.

Dinner was eventful in Ash's opinion. While it was still a simple dinner compared to all the Sweet Sixteens celebrated by various teenagers in that reality show, it was still meaningful as all his family, those people he had looked up to and the Pokémon were there to celebrate his special day.

"Out of the way, out of the way!" sang Amethyst, coming through kitchen with what appeared to be a three-tiered brown cake decorated with gold flecks all over, a white ribbon at the bottom tier, with ten candles placed on the three tiers of the cake, with five at the bottom, three at the middle, and two on top. At the bottom of the middle and top tier was dotted with white chocolate, made in the shape of Pokéballs. At the top tier between the two candles was a sugar figurine of a little boy carrying a sword. There were words in frosting at the bottom tier saying, "Happy Birthday Ashy!" This made Ash realise that it was his birthday cake, which Amethyst was suspending with her telekinesis.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Ash, Happy birthday to you. May the odds be with you…and happiness too. Happy birthday dear Ash. Happy birthday to you." Everyone sang in chorus, as Amethyst pretended to conduct.

Ash had to laugh as Amethyst said, "Make a wish, darling." Ash closed his eyes, and without thinking for a single second he instantly blew out all ten candles in one breath as he already knew what he would wish for. To be able to face them as equals when he finished his Pokémon journey. He knew it would be a long one based on hearing stories from all of them about their own journeys.

Amethyst then cleaned up some cake that was on Ash's face with a napkin before they moved the large cake aside and brought the pile of presents in front of him. "Here you go Ash, it's time to open up presents! There are two from each of us, one as a reward to passing the Hunter Exam, and one is your birthday present!"

Ash smiled, knowing they weren't the type of parents to combine a Christmas present and a birthday present into one, if his birthday had fallen on Christmas Day. He still shook his head at his mother's excitement though, as he opened the smallest box first, which was from Jude, which was his reward for passing the Hunter Exam.

Ash extracted a golden watch from the box, which did not tell time, but rather monitored each of their whereabouts, and in place of hours on the face were a series of possible locations, including "home", "work", "travelling", "lost", "hospital", "prison", and "mortal peril". So far, it had four golden hands, with each representing Amethyst, Shiki, Jude and Phillip. Not only that, Jude mentioned that Ash could use it to teleport to a specific person if he wanted to.

"I know you'd want a way to tell if we are safe or not. You can also add more hands to it if you found people you care about during the journey." Jude smiled. Ash hugged him for that, assuring him that he would wear it at all times.

Ash opened Jude's second present, which was his birthday present, and saw that he had given him a book called "Book of Spells" which apparently meant all he needed to do was request a spell that could do what effect, and the book would write it out for you. Ash grinned in joy, and hugged Jude again for the present.

Phillip's presents were next. Phillip had given him a Book of VIP Passes, which allowed him to summon forth a book which contained 1000 V.I.P Passes and to use each pass to act as a 'Very Important Person'. As such, Ash would be able to go anywhere and access any area for the price of a single pass. In fact, each pass was enchanted to transform to match the required specifications for an event. Ash was so happy he jumped on Phillip, and Phillip patted his cheek.

Phillip's second present was what looked like a dark blue compact powder with Ash's name written in gold. Not only did it have the functions of a typical smartphone, it also did analysis, similar to how detectives analyse DNA in the forensics lab and also had abilities such as changing his clothing and projecting his appearance as a hologram. It could even hack into other devices and access computer systems if used correctly and access entertainment such as social media.

Best part, it also had map functions and a compass with GPS to tell him the exact direction he should go if he wanted to go to a certain destination from his current location and a tracking device telling him where Phillip, Jude, Amethyst and Shiki were through their CommuniDex.

"This would help you find your way back every time." Phillip smiled, as Ash hugged him in thanks, heart filled with joy.

Shiki's first present was a necklace with a gold chain and a convex pendant slightly smaller than Ash's palm. The pendant's outer rim was golden and its shape was reminiscent of half of an ellipsoid, and it was divided in four sections by a Latin cross, where the horizontal arm, at whose height the chain is attached, divided the vertical one in two equal segments. Each of the four section had a golden four-shaped clover on the corner and protruding from the pendant in correspondence with the top of the cross was a metallic decoration reminiscent of the hilt of a sword whose tip emerged at the bottom of the pendant. Finally, four thinner, symmetrical spikes embellished the outer edge of each section.

"It's a Paladin Necklace. It protects you from all sorts of attacks. Not that you need it, but just in case you're unguarded and someone attacks you, it could really be useful." Shiki explained.

"Thanks, dad!" Ash jumped up to hug him as well.

"Anything for you, Ashy." Shiki grinned.

"Aww, how sweet." Amethyst gushed. "Quickly, open your dad's second present!"

Ash unwrapped it, only to see a platinum sabre that consisted of a revolver-like chamber around the ricasso, which like Amethyst's scabbard, contained all 18 types of Dust in it. Ash realized this this mechanism can be controlled by the sword-hand, enabling him to seamlessly cycle the chamber in combat. From the looks of it, the Dust was to be switched and activated by a small trigger on the underside of the hilt. The mechanism can be opened from the bottom of the hilt, allowing Ash to replace empty vials. As a result, the weapon appeared to have no tang.

"The blade is keyed to your aura so it can only be activated by your hand." Shiki said. "It's actually a mystical weapon forged by Prince Pierce, so it is likely there are more functions to that."

Ash almost cried tears of joy, as he gave Shiki a tight hug again. His very own personal weapon on his tenth birthday was just overwhelming.

"Easy there, Ashy." Shiki soothed.

"And last but not least, my presents!" Amethyst squealed.

Ash laughed and opened his mother's first present. It was a medicine kit cum potions kit filled with a large variety and abundant reserves of medicine, bandages, balms, herbs and other ingredients, even rare ones used in various medicines. The kit also had a small cauldron and heat source, a cutting board for preparing ingredients, and various other tools such as a stirring stick. To start, the book also contained instructions on the various healing potions he could make.

"Thanks, mum!" Ash hugged his mother, who said, "Now, the second present!"

He saw that it was a golden extendable staff with the top of the staff was curved in a shape reminiscent of a crescent, and contained a diamond that reflected light in a multiple rainbow of colors. When inactive, he could easily keep it at his side.

"It's to help channel your magic!" Amethyst was excited. "My son can't do with just any old wand after all. It's bound to your blood, so it'll always come back to you! Isn't it great?"

Ash smiled, and hugged his mother once more, who loved the gesture from her kid.

"Now put away the presents, it's time to eat more of the cake." Amethyst said with a loving smile. Ash nodded as he put away his presents before taking a piece of the cake that Amethyst handed to him and began eating it with joy as he loved the sweet taste of it, as Amethyst poured tea for them all to go with the birthday cake. For now, all he should do was enjoy the celebrations.

Later, Ash was in his room, packing his backpack for his journey. Thanks to an Undetectable Extension Charm he had placed in the backpack, he was able to store a lot more than what people would perceive based on the size of his backpack. To boot, Phillip had installed an anti-gravity device somewhere that lightened the load significantly.

So far, what he had was a variety of books, including the one Jude had given him and the Book of VIP Passes given to him by Phillip, a tent that was charmed to be larger inside than they look from the outside, resembling small homes with beds, chairs, tables, and a kitchen, the kit his mother had given him, a set of Poké Balls varying in design, a Pokémon Medical Kit containing various Berries, Potions, Max Revives and even Full Restores. On Amethyst's insistence, he was forced to pack 50 extra changes of clothing, 1000 lunches, and his leftover birthday cake.

An outfit was already left at the front of his walk-in closet. It was a simple white shirt with black pants, a black jacket that could hide an array of knives, along with leather boots. It was an outfit that was similar to what his father wore when he was younger.

Fingerless gloves were lying at his desk, with one of them having the Key Stone embedded in it. Amethyst had warned him not to use it unless when necessary, as they did not need the other regions to try and steal their research plans. The same went for the white bracelet that had the various Z-Crystals, given to him from an earlier birthday.

Along with those, he also had the sabre and staff, the Zipper Dimensional ÄRM, the Paladin Necklace, the compact device, the watch he got for his birthday presents and finally, the Hunter's License he acquired from the Hunter Exam.

Just then, the door opened and sank down on the bed beside him.

"How are you doing, honey?" Amethyst asked. "All ready for your journey tomorrow? It's a big day…I can't believe you're leaving home!" She looked like she'll miss her son, as his Espeon nuzzled up to him.

"Yeah, mum." Ash said, "Everything's great. Don't worry about me."

"I know." Amethyst replied, patting him on the leg. "I know what a good head you've got on your shoulders. Ready to go through the plan?"

Ash nodded, as Amethyst told him about their plan. In order to not let everyone know about his heritage and origin just yet, they were going to install him in Pallet Town and modify the memories of everyone making them think he's Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, but once he received the Kanto Pokédex, instead of having his Pokémon go to Professor Oak, it would go to Professor Primula, PAL's Regional Professor, who would then transfer them back to Amethyst's PokéResort.

They felt while Professor Oak was nice and was dedicated to studying Pokémon, PAL had much better facilities and even have training stimulations, and Amethyst said nothing but the best for him. Besides, he had his grandson's Pokémon to study, anyway.

"Just take whatever starter he offers you. Don't let him know of your true starter, alright?" Amethyst nodded to Espeon. "Pretend you're a novice. You can do that, right?"

"I've been taking lessons from Jude. He's the Ultimate Actor." Ash deadpanned.

"Fair enough." Amethyst said. "After that, your alias would be Ash Ketchum. I would also be there to swap out your Kanto Pokédex for the PAL one. I would do the finishing touches to their memories so everyone would only know about you living in their town, but know nothing except you were rather…isolated. Professor Oak would not be aware of a thing either."

"No need to worry about me, mum." Ash smiled. "But thank you, for always thinking of me." Ash knew his parents were trying to lower the expectations people have of him with this plan, so he can journey on his own pace and own time. It was also their own way of telling him to be a legendary trainer in his own way, and no need to follow in his parents' footsteps. This did not stop him from wanting to be as great as them, however.

"Anything for my child, dear." Amethyst brushed a fringe from Ash's hair. "You're just like your father after all. Well, goodnight, Ash. See you in the morning."

With that, she left the room, leaving Ash to his thoughts.

"Well, what do you think, Espeon? Are we ready?" Ash asked his Espeon.

"**Hell yeah, we are!" **Espeon replied. **"Whatever obstacles we faced, remember; we've faced worse among those PAL Elites."**

"Raised by them, trained by them…we're more than ready for this journey." Ash agreed, as he settled in bed, with Espeon jumping onto the foot of his bed to sleep.

The next day, Ash showered and cleaned his teeth as he dressed in the clothes that he had prepared, and equipped himself with the items he had laid out on the desk. He then headed to the dining room with his backpack, where breakfast had already been laid out. To his surprise, Jude and Phillip were also there.

"Can't believe you're leaving already." Phillip sighed desolately. "I really am going to miss you."

"Don't worry, Uncle Phillip, I'll make sure to prove your teachings aren't in vain!" Ash said, giving him a thumbs up, as Amethyst shovelled some French Toast onto his plate. He poured the heated syrup on the toast, noting she did the heating just the way he liked it.

"Oh, who else could I pass down my skills to?" Jude whined, hugging Ash with one arm. "You're meant to be a star!"

"We'll see, Uncle Jude." Ash smiled, hugging Jude back. "I'll be fine out there."

"Don't lose to any of those Gym Leaders or Elite Fours that specialize in our types, now!" Shiki laughed, as he came in the front door, presumably coming back after executing the first part of their plan.

"Of course not, dad." Ash answered politely, as Amethyst poured hot chocolate onto his cup. "I'll keep learning in this journey, after all."

"That's my boy." Shiki smiled, as they ate breakfast quietly.

After breakfast, Ash got ready to say goodbye to everyone sans his mother, who would accompany him to Kanto as part of the plan.

Jude took Ash by the hands and, with actual tears in his eyes, wished Ash well. Thanked him for being the best student it had ever been his privilege to teach. He also added that he can't wait for him to visit them and show them what he had learnt from his journey.

Phillip kissed him on the cheek, advising him to apply what he had learnt from them to his journey. After all, he wouldn't want their lessons to be in vain now, did he? He also told Ash that he was sure Ash could win against any adversary by now, but try not to be too arrogant.

Shiki carried Ash and gave him a long hug. "I'll miss you, Ash." Shiki said sadly. "Ash, when you're out there, remember to stay calm, and do not show your power too quickly. You won't know who would be after you for that."

"Would do, dad." Ash nodded, as Amethyst took his hand, and teleported to Pallet Town.

* * *

Ash sighed as he heard many voices, almost like a crowd when he arrived in Pallet Town with Amethyst. Then he heard a very aggravating voice talking to the said crowds of people.

"That's right, folks, I have gotten the best Pokémon ever from my grandfather. This Squirtle and I will become top of the entire Pokémon World and I would be known as a Pokémon Master!" he heard the person say arrogantly.

"Ugh…he's supposed to be my age?" Ash groaned. He knew never to get arrogant of his skills, for he would not know who would be able to best him. Amethyst had mentioned that arrogance would usually lead to one's downfall, so he hated boastful people like him. Ash silently watched as the boy rode off in a red car full of six full-grown cheerleaders and all his fans running after him.

"What a show off." Amethyst sighed in exasperation.

"Cradle robbers." Ash muttered as he raised his eyebrow at the cheerleaders, as he made his way to the lab.

"Ash? So, you finally decided to show up after all." A voice said. Ash looked to see a man with short grey hair and black eyes, wearing a red shirt and a white lab coat along with light brown pants and dark brown shoes.

'This must be Professor Oak.' Ash thought, but said, "I'm sorry, Professor. I really do want to get going, honest. I overslept. I couldn't get to sleep last night, I was so excited for today."

"Indeed, I do. Anyway, the others all have left already." Professor Oak replied.

"Professor Oak, please tell me you still have a Pokémon left." He put the plead in his voice convincingly well.

"I'm sorry, Ash, but my grandson just took the last starter." Professor Oak said apologetically. "They all went to trainers who weren't late."

"Are you sure you don't have just one more, please?" Ash asked quietly, making him sound more desperate than he actually was.

Professor Oak looked thoughtful and said, "Well... there is one left. However, it's not exactly for beginners."

Ash didn't care either way, as long as it was a "starter" he could use as a cover. "I'll take it!" At his words, Professor Oak led Ash to another part of the lab and handed Ash a Poké Ball with a lightning bolt symbol.

When Ash opened the Poké Ball, it released a white light, taking the form of a small, yellow mouse with red cheeks and a tail shaped like a lighting bolt.

"Pikachu. An Electric type, correct?" Ash asked, as the Pikachu blinked a few times. He could see why Professor Oak said Pikachu would be hard to handle, especially for beginning Trainers. However, Ash was confident enough to handle Pikachu, considering he was made to care for all sorts of Pokémon since young, even though this Pikachu looked extra stubborn, turning its head to the side with its nose in the air with an air of superiority.

Professor Oak nodded. "Very astute, Ash. Looks like you've been reading up."

"It's cute and all, but why do you even have that Pikachu?" Ash asked the Professor, shooting him a funny look.

Professor Oak cleared his throat at the question and said, "Actually, I ran into it when I was on my way back from Viridian City and caught it in a Poké Ball. So, it's not tamed yet and I'm afraid it doesn't like humans very much."

"**You got that right!"** Pikachu growled. **"I'll give you the shock of your life if you try to touch me!"**

"Uh-huh, it doesn't look too happy." Ash watched with mild interest as sparks of electricity was emitting from its red cheeks pretending not to understand the Pikachu. "Don't worry, Professor Oak. I'll be fine." After all, Phillip's electric attacks are most likely way more painful than Pikachu's Thunderbolt, from the times he got shocked during training.

"You sure about this, Ash?" Professor Oak asked.

"No problem. I'll take it, Professor. You'll see, Pikachu and I will be best of friends before you know it." Ash went to hug Pikachu, who wasn't happy and shocked him. However, all that did was energize Ash, making Ash suspect he might have been immune to shocks from all the times he spent with Phillip. However, just for show, he dropped the Pokémon.

"Okay…suit yourself, Ash." Professor Oak looked unnerved. "Take your Pokédex and these six Poké Balls." As he said this, he handed Ash six Poké Balls and the Kanto Pokédex. "The Pokédex will serve as your guide, giving you information on Pokémon and your Trainer ID."

"Thanks, Professor Oak." Ash said with a smile as he took them. 'Like I'll need them anyway, but still…' When he left, Amethyst and the other Pallet Town residents were there waiting to support him.

"Mom!" Ash ran over to his mother, and hugged her. As they did, they secretly swapped the Pokédex and exchanged the Poké Balls for Luxury Balls. After all, Amethyst wanted nothing but the best for her son, and she knew Ash would strive to be the best.

"Oh, Ash I'm so proud of you." Amethyst cooed, tears in her eyes. "You're finally going to fulfil your dream and it starts with your Pokémon training. But I…I'll miss you so much."

Amethyst then noticed Pikachu. "Hmm? That's your Pokémon?" she asked, pointing to the yellow mouse Pokémon.

"**Hello." **Pikachu said sullenly.

"Yep, that's my Pokémon." Ash rolled his eyes as he knew only his mother could see, keeping the excited tone in front of the residents. "Well, with Pikachu at my side, I'll get all the Pokémon in the world." By the way he emphasized the word Pikachu, Amethyst knew he didn't mean Pikachu, but rather his Espeon.

Keeping up the façade, Amethyst said, "I thought all Pokémon stayed inside their Poké Balls. Why doesn't this one?"

"He doesn't like Poké Balls." Ash shrugged.

"**Damn right I don't!" **Pikachu replied, but stopped and stared at Amethyst. There was something about her that made Pikachu like her immediately, though he did not know what and why.

"Well, take care of my son for me, alright?" She asked Pikachu sweetly.

"**O-Ok." **Pikachu stuttered cutely.

'Ash, before you go, I got something for you.' Amethyst told him. She slipped him a diary and a pen and said in his head, 'I know you wouldn't talk about your feelings when things get hard, so I figured you should write it down. It helped me when I was a kid.'

Ash looked down at the pen, and saw that it was very fancy and expensive-feeling pen that was all purple and gold, and had _Ashura Red Satoshi Kurobane_ engraved on it.

'Thanks mum.' Ash said sincerely, somehow knowing the diary and pen would have had special features, considering the supernatural nature of his home region.

'Remember Ash, stay safe out there and come back safely!' Amethyst told Ash through telepathy. Although she knew Pokémon journeys are actually very tame compared to the training and missions they put him through during his childhood, she can't help but worry for her only son as this time, he was alone.

'I will, mum.' Ash promised. He did not need psychic powers to know that Amethyst would want him to call her if he was ever in real danger and could not handle his own. He was sure he didn't need it, though. At least not yet.

Amethyst cried, as she kissed Ash goodbye on the forehead and waved as Ash made his way towards Viridian City.

Ash was running out of Pallet Town with the Pikachu running beside him. After all, it couldn't stray away from him because he has its Poké Ball, and is technically his Trainer, whether he liked it or not.

When Ash was a safe distance away from Pallet Town, he decided to release Espeon. "Ok Espeon, come on out!" Espeon came out, preening herself. She was relieved to be out of that Luxury Ball, considering it was uncomfortable.

"**Wait, what?"** Pikachu was shocked at the beautiful Espeon in front of him.

"Do you really think I only have you, Pikachu?" Ash raised his brow. "Look, I don't want to fight with you or anything, and I don't see why you dislike me so much. Why don't you open your mouth and tell me what's wrong?"

Pikachu opened his mouth widely, and Ash facepalmed. For an arrogant Pokémon, Pikachu sure was dumb. "Not that literal, Pikachu. That's not what I meant."

"**Fine, if you want me to like you, release me and bring me to your mum right now!"** Pikachu hissed.

"**Unfortunately, he can't do that, Pikachu. After all, his mother did ask you to take care of me, and she already had loads of Pokémon to take care of."** Espeon said firmly.

"What she said." Ash agreed, pointing at Espeon.

Pikachu looked at him curiously, wondering if he understood what he just said. Thinking it could've been a lucky guess, Pikachu decided to test it.

"**Hey, did you know my favourite food was ketchup? Now tell me what's my favourite food." **Pikachu said to Ash.

Ash blinked at him, and said, "You shouldn't have told me the answer before asking me a question, you know. But it's ketchup."

Pikachu's suspicions were confirmed at Ash's answer. "How can you understand me? Wait…you do have the smell of Pokémon all over you."

'Must have been the times I've gotten close to all the Pokémon back at mum's PokéResort.' Ash thought. He then realized that he had been so used to using his aura and telepathy to communicate with all those Pokémon back home that he forgot that humans can't normally understand the Pokémon language.

Ash glared at Pikachu. "Forget about it. Let's just move on, I'd like to try and capture some Pokémon."

Pikachu scoffed, **"Oh please, do you really think I would help you capture my fellow Pokémon? I would never betray them just to help you, human."**

"Look here, Pikachu." Ash said firmly, tired of the Pikachu's haughtiness. Pokémon or not, he did not like arrogance. While it was true he could have bribed Pikachu with ketchup to help him, Ash knew better than that as Pikachu could just reject it by saying he could get his own ketchup.

Besides, bribery is never the way to build a true relationship and he was taught those who accept bribery are corrupt and materialistic idiots, and Ash should never associate with that kind of people, as they would only be after his assets.

Ash's eyes narrowed at Pikachu, his eyes like chips of ice at that moment. "You've been nothing but a conceited little rodent, I'm not saying you mistrust is misplaced, but I haven't even done anything to earn your displeasure. If you want to vent your displeasure, vent it to the person who've done you wrong. You think you're powerful with that thunder attack of yours earlier, well news flash, I've taken Thunderbolts at least a thousand times more powerful than yours. Come on, Espeon, let's go."

He nodded towards the Sun Pokémon, who looked amused at the shocked Pikachu.

"**How dare he-" **Pikachu tried to fry him with a Thunderbolt in response to prove he wasn't weak, but Ash simply absorbed it with a hand out without looking back.

**"Well, he's been raised by the Dragon Duo after all."** Espeon explained, seeing Pikachu's eyes widen at how Ash wasn't fazed by his attack at all. **"Not that it matters to someone like you." **After all,her trainer knew a lot of pressure would await if this knowledge was public, especially since his mother was a Legendary Coordinator and Pokémon Performer as well.

"**He's their son?" **Pikachu was surprised. He had definitely heard of the Dragon Duo ever since he was a baby. They were said to be the greatest Pokémon Masters of all time, barring their type specialty aside. Pikachu got frightened as he knew the son of the Dragon Duo was revered among the Legendary Pokémon, and Arceus knows what kind of Pokémon Army the female half had, and realizing that woman was the female half.

While Pikachu found this fact interesting, he shuddered to think what kind of Pokémon she'll sic on him if she finds out, and she would because of her psychic powers. He prayed to whatever Legendaries that liked him that Ash would still take him.

"**Wait, please!" **Pikachu ran after the duo. Ash looked back and raised his brow.

"What?" Ash was bored. He was not about to hear Pikachu arguing with him again.

"**I'm sorry for everything I've said and done to you!" **Pikachu apologized. **"I'd like to come along, if you'd have me."**

"And you're following me because…?" Ash folded his arms. It signalled to Pikachu that the wrong answer might lead to serious consequences. Whatever it was, he hoped he'd never find out.

Pikachu sighed, and admitted, **"Please, I'd like to be your Pokémon. Would you give me a chance?"** After all, he really wanted to see the Pokémon World too and what was out there.

Ash knew Pikachu wasn't lying, that he wasn't in for the "glory" that he'd get as his Pokémon, but he was still wary of Pikachu.

"Fine, you can come. But if I hear one arrogant word out of your mouth, I will do to you what I did to the last Pokémon I directly fought." Ash warned.

Pikachu nodded, but asked, **"Can I please at least stay out of the Poké Ball?"**

"Be my guest." Ash answered, as Pikachu sighed with relief. At least Ash was nice enough to adhere to his wishes.

'You didn't even fight a Pokémon directly. All you did was dodge their attacks.' Espeon said in his head, amused.

'It's the way you phrase things, Espeon.' Ash replied calmly. 'I've been taught by the best.'

'Perhaps you have inherited your mother's gift.' Espeon observed. All of them knew his mother seemed to have a gift with Pokémon, where even the grouchiest and most hostile Pokémon seemed to fall victim to the charm that Amethyst possessed, which usually calmed them down in an instant or obeyed her commands, like how Pikachu did with her earlier.

'We shall have to find out, won't we, Espeon?' Ash thought. 'Although I'd hate to have mine extend as far as hers does.' No matter what his mother joked, a Pokémon Army isn't what he wanted.

Ash then looked towards the sun that was still in the sky. "Enough arguing, let's move on. I want to get as close to Viridian City as possible before setting up camp. Are the both of you ready?" He asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

Pikachu and Espeon nodded, as they walked through Route 1 towards Viridian City.

Although they might have gotten off on the wrong foot and Pikachu followed Ash out of fear of the consequences, Ash hoped he and Pikachu could learn to get along so he could be on the road of becoming a great Pokémon Master. Well, they shall see, since only time would tell.

'Watch out, world.' Ash thought, smirking inwardly. 'Here I come.'

**BP: And that's the prologue, done! I've been having this idea for a long time now, so it seemed easier to write out the story than most others. As you can see, Ash doesn't take shit from anybody, not even a disobedient Pikachu, and he would have way different ways of approaching things than in canon, as he's raised by the Dragon Duo and the Dragon Duo's parenting skills are different from normal, as you can see glimpses of it above. He would also likely more apathetic considering he had seen a lot as a child. He seems OP now, I know, but I feel it is justified considering who he was born to and well, of course they had a fatal flaw to their parenting which I would reveal later.**

**It's possible he would learn a lot from this Pokémon journey like his parents did, such as developing his own abilities further, and even new ones, considering his heritage. **

**On another note, as for the results of the poll, you can see Espeon won and almost everyone wanted Pakura and Amethyst to be separate people and see RoyalShipping once more. Don't ask me why, even I don't know. **

**As for travelling companions for the Kanto saga, I am not sure if I should include Brock. As for Misty, I don't think I'll include her, considering I don't like her character in general. If you want him to have his canon travelling companions aside from Pakura, who would make her appearance later, tell me so in PM or reviews. **

**To clarify, this is completely different from Two Legends, One Fate as this is a series that I came up with myself a long time ago, Ash isn't completely human in this one, and I didn't write it with Core AI. Core AI and I would try writing Two Legends One Fate once we both are free, although I might ask him to let me write the story if you readers wish to, since he is very busy and I am kind of free at the moment. If you do want me to try writing it, please tell me and let me know, so I can tell Core AI.**

**On another note, do tell me what you think of the Final Battle in FS, since I decided to come up with a new way of writing battles in the latest chapter and I am not sure if you liked the new way better or the old way, and remember to check out the latest chapter of AV as well. **

**Speaking of which, for those who have read FS and AV of my first PAL stories, you might be aware of the PokéAwards Ceremony concept I came up with. If not, here is the summary. **

**I came up with for the story a long time ago and I am going to put these in the next chapter of FS and near the end of AV. **

**Best Performing means fans vote as to who put up the best battles during the tournament or outside in their opinions, and Favourite means who they like in general, personality and all. Here is the list of awards available:**

**Best Performing Normal Specialist**

**Favourite Normal Specialist**

**Best Performing Fighting Specialist **

**Favourite Fighting Specialist**

**Best Performing Flying Specialist **

**Favourite Flying Specialist**

**Best Performing Grass Specialist**

**Favourite Grass Specialist**

**Best Performing Poison Specialist**

**Favourite Poison Specialist**

**Best Performing Electric Specialist**

**Favourite Electric Specialist**

**Best Performing Ground Specialist**

**Favourite Ground Specialist**

**Best Performing Psychic Specialist**

**Favourite Psychic Specialist**

**Best Performing Rock Specialist**

**Favourite Rock Specialist**

**Best Performing Ice Specialist**

**Favourite Ice Specialist**

**Best Performing Bug Specialist**

**Favourite Bug Specialist**

**Best Performing Dragon Specialist**

**Favourite Dragon Specialist**

**Best Performing Ghost Specialist**

**Favourite Ghost Specialist**

**Best Performing Dark Specialist**

**Favourite Dark Specialist**

**Best Performing Steel Specialist**

**Favourite Steel Specialist**

**Best Performing Fairy Specialist (AV only)**

**Favourite Fairy Specialist (AV only)**

**Best Performing Kanto Gym Leader**

**Favourite Kanto Gym Leader**

**Best Performing Johto Gym Leader**

**Favourite Johto Gym Leader**

**Best Performing Hoenn Gym Leader**

**Favourite Hoenn Gym Leader**

**Best Performing Sinnoh Gym Leader**

**Favourite Sinnoh Gym Leader**

**Best Performing Unova Gym Leader**

**Favourite Unova Gym Leader**

**Best Performing Kalos Gym Leader (AV only)**

**Favourite Performing Kalos Gym Leader (AV only)**

**Best Performing Kanto Elite Member**

**Favourite Kanto Elite Member**

**Best Performing Johto Elite Member**

**Favourite Johto Elite Member**

**Best Performing Hoenn Elite Member**

**Favourite Hoenn Elite Member**

**Best Performing Sinnoh Elite Member**

**Favourite Sinnoh Elite Member**

**Best Performing Unova Elite Member**

**Favourite Unova Elite Member**

**Best Performing Kalos Elite Member (AV only)**

**Favourite Kalos Elite Member (AV only)**

**Best Performing PAL Elite Member**

**Favourite PAL Elite Member**

**Best Performing Overall Gym Leader**

**Favourite Overall Gym Leader**

**Best Performing Overall Elite Member**

**Favourite Overall Elite Member**

**Best Performing Pokémon Champion**

**Favourite Pokémon Champion**

**To clarify, the difference between the list in FS and AV are Fairy types and the inclusion of Kalos Region in the AV, as denoted by the "AV Only". **

**Overall means who the fans thought performed the best among all regions, not just a specific region. The best performing can also win the favourite if the fans also like them the best, so basically a person can win more than one award. Can a person win more than one award? Yes, if they fit the criteria. Can the dead people receive them? Yes.**

**Like I mentioned, if you have any suggestions as to who should win which category in this version, I'd be happy to take them into consideration when writing my final chapter. PM or review, doesn't matter, as long as I have a complete list at the end of the day. Can the same person win in FS and AV? Yes. **

**I know it's a long list, but I value my readers' opinions and if you could suggest which person should win each category (Type Specialist doesn't need to be a Gym Leader or an Elite member). I also need it so that I can finish the final chapter of FS and have ideas for my final chapters of AV. You could specify whether you are voting for the AV or the FS, if you wish to. **

**Do Favourite, Follow and Review! **


	2. Chapter 1: Bad Encounters

**BP: I know this is my first time writing a journey like fanfiction, but I decided to try writing this since I still have inspiration for it and I ran out of ideas for my FS and AV, and could only write a couple thousand words at best, which would not do, considering the average length of my chapters. **

**Hence, I would try my best writing what I can for other stories, so I hope you'd all forgive me for putting AV and FS on hold until I can find inspiration for those chapters. **

**Furthermore, I haven't come up with a list of the award winners for each of the version (read previous chapter or the latest chapters of FS/AV Author's notes) as I didn't receive any suggestions, so I am out of ideas, especially for FS until I finish the list. **

A small brown bird flew over Ash and Pikachu's head, and Ash looked up. He immediately recognized it as a Pidgey, who was cooing as it flew. Even though Ash knew a lot about Pidgey due to his studies, he still pulled out the Pokédex from PAL, mostly to document what he saw in his journey.

Pidgey came on the large screen of the tablet and a male computer voice said, "Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. Pidgey has an extremely sharp sense of direction. It is capable of unerringly returning home to its nest, however far it may be removed from its familiar surroundings. It usually hides in tall grass. Because it dislikes fighting, it protects itself by kicking up sand. If disturbed, however, it can ferociously strike back."

Ash nodded, knowing the Pidgey around here were easy for beginning trainers to capture, though they probably need to be weakened first. Still, he didn't want to collect Pokémon for the sake of getting them all, and decided to move on.

"**You aren't going to catch it?" **Pikachu was surprised.

"It's not worth it." Ash sighed, walking on. "I'm not catching them for the sake of collecting them like they are stamps or something. Pokémon aren't collections." He then heard footsteps on the ground that sounded like scampering, and he saw a purple rat-like creature looking and sniffing around for food.

"Rattata..." Ash muttered, opening his Pokédex. "Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. Its fangs are long and very sharp. They grow continuously, so it gnaws on hard things to whittle them down. Rattata is cautious in the extreme, and its hardy vitality lets it live in any kind of environment. Even while it is asleep, it constantly listens by moving its ears around. It is not picky about where it lives - it will make its nest anywhere. It eats everything. Wherever food is available, it will settle down and produce offspring continuously. Bites anything when it attacks. Small and very quick, it is a common sight in many places. It likes cheese, nuts, fruits, and berries."

"And it also comes out into open fields to steal food." Ash muttered, as he sensed the Rattata sniffing near him.

"Alright Pikachu, use Thunder Shock on that Rattata." Ash ordered, deciding to test his new Pikachu.

Pikachu sighed, **"Sorry." **He then released multiple bolts of yellow electricity from its cheeks at Rattata, shocking it and fainting it.

"Nice job, Pikachu." Ash smiled, as they walked on. Pikachu blinked at a bush and said, **"Oh look, a Razz Berry!" **

"I won't go if I were you, Pikachu." Ash muttered, but Pikachu wasn't listening and was jumping towards the bushes to enjoy some food. He sighed and said to Espeon, "We might as well stop here for some quick food." He could practically hear Espeon's stomach growling at the mention of food.

"Yep, you're hungry alright." Ash nodded, as Espeon blushed. He set up lunch by taking out two boxes of lunch out of the many Amethyst had packed, handing one to Espeon. A Thunderbolt, probably done by Pikachu, flashed in the distance, but Ash paid it no mind.

A few minutes later, Ash packed the lunch boxes into another bag to recycle later. He was halfway through standing up when he suddenly stopped. He felt like his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong.

"**ASH! HELP!" **Pikachu was screaming, running out, or rather, limping out into the clearing towards them.

**"Was that Pikachu?"** Espeon asked nervously, not liking the sound of Pikachu's screaming.

Sure enough, when Pikachu limped out, he was chased by a flock of Spearow and Fearow.

"What did you do?" Ash asked, looking at Pikachu, who was injured all over the place.

"**I was hungry and got another Razz Berry, but this Spearow wanted it as well…so I shocked it and ate it, and it ran off. But I didn't know it'd call for his family!" **Pikachu panicked, explaining why he was being chased down. **"They all attacked me at once, and you can see how well it went." **

"I told you: You shouldn't have gone." Ash reminded the Pikachu, as he quickly scanned the Pokémon.

"Spearow, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. Spearow has a very loud cry that can be heard over half a mile away. If its high, keening cry is heard echoing all around, it is a sign that they are warning each other of danger. It busily flits around here and there. Even if it is frail, it can be a tough foe that uses Mirror Move. Eats bugs in grassy areas. Very protective of its territory, it has to flap its short wings at high speed to stay airborne. Its reckless nature leads it to stand up to others—even large Pokémon—if it has to protect its territory." The Pokédex said.

"Anyway, zap it with your Thunderbolt!" This time, the Pikachu didn't hesitate one bit as it let loose a bolt of electricity at the oncoming flock.

While some fell to the ground, others resisted it, especially the stronger Spearow and Fearow, who was incensed, and one Spearow saw Ash using telekinesis to get Pikachu to his arms and screeched, **"There's a human here! Get him!" **

Suddenly, hundreds of Spearow and Fearow came flying out of the trees, heading straight towards the three of them.

"I swear, Pikachu." Ash sighed, taking out his sabre, and switching it to Electric Dust. "Espeon, protect Pikachu and run. I'll handle this." He knew that Pikachu had been weakened greatly earlier and didn't have the stamina or energy to do one more attack. Even if he did, it was unlikely that he would take down the flock.

"**What about you?" **Espeon asked.

"I'll catch up with you." Ash smiled, and he turned to the flock, just as a thunderstorm started, and it rained heavily.

"Leave Pikachu alone." Ash said coldly, as Espeon used Psychic on Pikachu and ran. Some of the Fearow and Spearow tried to chase after them, but Ash put up a barrier to prevent this.

"Your opponent is me." Ash declared, using his electrified aura (thanks to Pikachu shocking him earlier) to strengthen the moves from the Electric Dust.

The hundreds of Spearow and Fearow went in for a pecking attack all at once, only for Ash to vanish. They looked up to see Ash above them, and slicing some of them with an electric attack, effectively taking them down.

Before they could even attempt their more powerful moves like Hyper Beam, Ash was using the trees as a momentum to strike them with an electric- based attack, effectively knocking them out. He then noticed a lightning about to strike and smiled as he knew he could redirect it towards them, non-lethally.

The lightning struck Ash's sabre, and he used his aura to downplay the lethality of the lightning, before firing it at the remaining flock. This caused a huge flash to occur like an explosion, covering a large area.

The absorption of the lightning somehow stopped the thunderstorm as the skies cleared and a rainbow could be seen. Ash looked up to see a Ho-Oh flying towards the rainbow, and smiled and opened his Pokédex. "Ho-Oh, the Rainbow Pokémon. Ho-Oh's feathers glow in seven colors depending on the angle at which they are struck by light. These feathers are said to bring happiness to the bearers. Legends claim this Pokémon flies the world's skies continuously on its magnificent seven-colored wings and is said to live at the foot of a rainbow. It will reveal itself before a pure-hearted Trainer by shining its bright, rainbow-colored wings."

"What's a Ho-Oh doing here? I thought they were from Johto?" Ash wondered, remembering what he read about them. Just then, he blinked as something fell towards him- a mystical feather shining with rainbow colors. He swore he almost heard a voice say that in time, they would meet again and he would be watching him, as Ho-oh disappeared into the rainbow.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was barely conscious, but he knew Espeon was carrying him with Psychic and running from the fearsome Spearow and Fearow flock, with Ash trying to stall them. The last thing he saw was his trainer's back and readying a sabre to protect him.

"Espeon!" Ash called out to them. Espeon smiled at her owner, who was unscathed. "Let me take a look at Pikachu."

Espeon handed Pikachu over to Ash, who frowned, and decided to use his aura to heal him. Pikachu whimpered as his bruises disappeared and cuts close, effectively bringing him back to health.

"You are so childish." Ash sighed and Pikachu blinked tearfully at him. "And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't get me started on your attitude. I suppose I do have high standards, but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. I'll be nicer if you quit being stubborn and listen to me."

Pikachu nodded quietly, as Ash picked him up and they walked on towards a stream for Pikachu to get some water and rest. Pikachu licked Ash's cheek, indicating he liked and trusted him now.

Pretty soon the trio were resting by a stream when he sensed a girl coming up in a bicycle. Ash motioned for them to hide, as he had a bad feeling about the girl.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" The girl shouted at Ash, who rolled his eyes. "This is my private fishing area!"

"One, this isn't really a private fishing spot. I am sure every trainer from Pallet Town comes through here on the way to Viridian and vice versa for other trainers headed to Pallet Town, so you can't just claim it as yours. Two, I am resting, so unless you're blind you don't have to ask me that question. Three, if you need to be alone while fishing, you aren't a good fisher in the first place." Ash ticked these things off his fingers.

This made the girl glare harder at Ash, who simply gave her a blank look.

"I doubt you're a strong trainer if you need to take a break between Pallet Town and Viridian, considering your age." The girl said arrogantly, smirking at Ash. "I bet you only got Pokémon straight from the lab or something!"

In the bushes, Espeon shot Pikachu a look, who looked guilty, knowing he was the reason they were even resting.

"Actually, only one of my Pokémon comes 'straight from the lab' like you said and that's only because he's my 'official' starter. I have another Pokémon that had been with me since I was a child." Ash answered, not liking this girl one bit. "And please don't assume my age just because I don't look like it."

"I think my Pokémon is better than yours. I am going to be a Water Master after all." The girl said cockily, releasing a Starmie and a Staryu.

Ash sighed. There was no arguing with this girl, is there? He wondered if he should use his psychic powers to make her hallucinate that he had better Water-type Pokémon, or should he make a very quick trip and ask Jude to lend him some of his Water Pokémon to show off? He decided to go with the former, as he knew it might make for a good show later.

Ash held out a hand to Espeon and Pikachu, signalling for them to wait, as he concentrated on the girl's and her Pokémon's mind, and changed Espeon and Pikachu's appearance to a Milotic and a Vaporeon respectively. He nodded for them to come out once he's done, and the girl was flat on her ass, gaping at the "Water-types".

"**Just play along." **Espeon said to Pikachu, who looked puzzled. However, Misty heard the "correct" Pokéspeech as Ash had messed with her hearing as well.

"But those Pokémon are almost impossible to find in Kanto! Where did you get them?" The girl stuttered, looking at Ash's "Water-types".

Ash secretly took out his sabre and switched to Water Dust. "Does it matter now? Milotic, Hydro Pump!" However, he told Espeon not to do anything. To Misty, it looked like Milotic had fired off a powerful Hydro Pump, knocking all three to the ground, when it was really Ash using his Water Dust to perform the feat.

"See you later." Ash glared at the girl as he recalled his Pokémon in Misty's eyes, when in reality he simply made them invisible so that neither Misty nor the Pokémon would find out they aren't Water types, and they walked away from Misty.

"Hey, wait a minute! I'm the one going to be a master of Water Types! Hand them over!" Misty demanded, grabbing Ash by the arm. However, he grabbed her and threw her on the ground, saying coldly, "Just because you're a girl doesn't mean I give mercy."

With that, he walked off quickly towards Viridian City before she could get up. As he reached Viridian City, he heard Officer Jenny announce, "Attention, pedestrians of Viridian City, attention, pedestrians of Viridian City! We have reports about Pokémon thieves in our area! Being on the lookout for suspicious looking strangers! Repeat - Being on the lookout for suspicious looking…"

Ash did not listen and just dashed into a Pokémon Center nearby, deciding to get Pikachu checked, knowing his psychic illusions would mean Officer Jenny wouldn't be able to spot his Pokémon. That was fine. He didn't need to be stopped and be suspected as a Pokémon thief.

He may have healed Pikachu, but it was still a good thing to let Pikachu have a check-up in case his healing missed some of the injuries, since he was not as proficient as his mother in that aspect.

"A wanted poster. How flattering." A female voice said, as she took their pictures off the wanted board.

"Flattering? This picture makes me look terrible." A guy replied, as they rode a hot-air balloon that was in the shape of a Meowth.

"Then you should be happy that the photographer captured the real you." The woman scoffed.

"Exactly." The boy smirked.

"We'll show these bumpkins." The woman said.

"The people of Viridian City will be sorry they ever saw this face." The guy declared.

"We're all sorry to see your face. Stay focused. We're here to capture rare and unusual Pokémon. Don't forget, Meowth." A Meowth said.

"Absolutely." The female said.

"But of course." The male added.

"And just remember, I'm the top cat." The Meowth said.

"You got it." The boy agreed.

As the pink-haired nurse took Pikachu away, Ash sighed with relief, and sat down on a plush sofa, while waiting for the results. His Espeon asked what was on his mind.

"Nothing much." Ash replied, thinking about the Rainbow Wing that he had picked up after protecting Pikachu, and how careless Pikachu was tonight.

"What happened?" A trainer asked in concern, seeing the stony look on Ash's face.

Ash blinked as he sighed, composing himself. He wondered what he should do, as he never really talked to people his age group before.

"Well…I was on my way here from Pallet Town and went to stop and rest for a while at a stream nearby, you know that one, right?" At that, the group of trainers at the lobby nodded.

"Yeah but why'd you have to take a rest?" One trainer asked causing Ash to sigh.

"Because my Pikachu foolishly separated from me to get some berries, engaged a whole flock of Spearow and Fearow despite my warnings, and they attacked him pretty badly, so we had to quickly run away from them." Ash answered, not elaborating and hoping they would not press for answers. Much to his chagrin, they did.

"What did you do? How did you escape?" One asked, looking at Ash and noting he was unscathed.

"We hid at the bushes near the stream until they gave up." While that was a lie, he figured the trainers won't catch on.

"Oh, that flock." Another trainer scowled. "I hate that flock. They attack for no reason, or the slightest action is perceived as a provocation and then they attack."

"Then what happened? You got attacked by another Pokémon or something?" Another trainer blinked, and Ash inwardly sighed. Why won't they drop the topic already.

"No." Ash answered shortly. "I was simply disturbed by some orange haired girl who said the place was her private fishing spot. Said something about her goal of being a Water Type Master, that's all. You know what, I'm going to ask Nurse Joy how my Pikachu is doing."

Ash was about to stand up when Viridian City's Officer Jenny came into the Pokémon Center with a crying orange-haired girl behind her. The girl's eyes instantly zeroed in on Ash before she grabbed onto Officer Jenny's arm.

"There he is officer! That's the thief that stole my Pokémon!" The girl wailed, pointing at Ash. Ash facepalmed, knowing where this was going.

"And you're the insufferably irritating bitch that demanded that I hand over my Pokémon because you're the one going to be the Water Type Master." Ash retorted dryly. Many trainers frowned at Misty, not being happy with her attitude.

"Young man, this young lady said that you have assaulted her and stole two of her Pokémon before running away." Officer Jenny said.

"What Pokémon did she say I took?" Ash asked calmly.

"Milotic and a Vaporeon." Officer Jenny answered, making Ash grin wider.

"I'm sorry Officer Jenny, that cannot be possible." Ash shook his head. "I do not own either of those Pokémon, and I only own an Espeon and Pikachu. See for yourself." He handed Officer Jenny his Pokédex as proof to indicate he only had two Pokémon on hand and that he did not release any Pokémon.

"I…see…" This caused Jenny to frown in confusion, before turning her glare towards Misty, who gulped.

Ash blinked, sensing something approaching, and nodded to Espeon. At the next second, he rushed out with his Espeon, and jumped onto the rooftop with such speed anyone who actually saw him would only see a blur.

"Stop right there." He said coldly to his five adversaries, two humans, three Pokémon, readying his sabre at his back.

"Oh, how dare you act like we're criminals. You should welcome Team Rocket." The woman scoffed.

"Well, no matter. We'll teach you to fear that name." The feminine man added.

'Team Rocket?' Ash thought, having familiarity with that name, considering his parents talked about them, and not in a good way. His mother even mentioned they do human experiments to children to give them various abilities and the members birth children for that sole purpose.

Espeon froze at this too. **"Oh shit!"** She said, as she watched Ash tilt his head down with his shoulder twitching at the words, "Team Rocket".

The talking Meowth frowned then laughed, "Oh, is the little boy scared of Team Rocket already. Don't be afraid now, little boy. We won't bite…if you hand over your Pokémon." He started to laugh along with his buddies when they felt the temperature around them drop.

They looked at Ash again, who was laughing to himself, but not in the warm, cheerful kind. It was more like the dangerous type, a laugh an assassin might make before going in for the kill.

Ash looked up to them with a bloodthirsty grin, his eyes like chips of ice. "Oh, I can't wait to battle you. I've always wanted to annihilate Team Rocket to prove myself, and you'll do nicely…" Ash said with a chilling smirk at the group, who gulped and wondered if it was a good idea.

"Ekans, Koffing, a-attack!" The woman and man yelled in unison, not even bothering with their motto.

Ash mouthed a few words to Espeon which they did not hear, and Espeon's eyes glowed blue, throwing Koffing, Ekans and Meowth up in the air. While they were blasted to the sky, Ash threw a Poké Ball in the air to catch Meowth.

When Meowth was captured and the ball wriggled, Ash froze the Poké Ball in Ice Dust so that it'll be much harder to break out.

"I…he…" The woman stuttered, as Ash levitated them, his icy blue eyes glowing. They felt like they have met the devil himself.

"Now, let's make a deal, shall we?" Ash smiled, not in the nice way, holding the sabre to the man's throat. "You surrender and give up your Ekans and Koffing, and I won't show you what I am really capable of."

"And if we d-don't?" The woman gulped.

"And if you don't, I am pretty sure you'll be meeting your Pokémon and family in the afterlife…I'll send your family after you too. After all, I know where they live, who they are…especially your little Growlie." He then turned to the man.

"H-How did you even know about it?" The man screamed as he wetted his pants at the look on Ash's face. "Who are you?"

Ash smirked at a sound, realizing Meowth's capture was complete. He unfroze the Poké Ball and used telekinesis to keep it shut, tossing the Poké Ball up and down.

"Who am I matters not to you or you." Ash answered, pointing to the woman and man respectively, as Espeon held Ekans and Koffing high over the sky, and taking out his Hunter's License, shocking them that he had authority to kill. "Do we have a deal? Or do I have to ask Espeon to let go?"

"We surrender! We surrender!" Both screamed. Ash smirked as he pocketed some of their money and Poké Balls they had their Pokémon in, and dropped them from the rooftop to the ground, as Espeon gently let the Pokémon down. He heard a crunch, indicating those two broke some bones.

While Ash did know there are bad Pokémon such as Meowth himself, some Pokémon only did bad things because their masters were cruel. He wondered what to do with Koffing and Meowth, considering he wanted to keep Ekans. Ash smiled wickedly, and knew he should send them to his mother as "servants". She'll love it.

With that thought, he jumped down, landing on the injured duo on his feet, injuring them further, and walked back to the Pokémon Center to transport his Pokémon to his mother. He watched in amusement as Misty was being taken away by Officer Jenny to evaluate her mental health as she had apparently hallucinated his Psychic and Electric type as Water types.

After receiving his Pikachu, who was confirmed to be of perfect health, Ash decided to walk on to Viridian Forest, on the way to Pewter City, which was where he would get his first Badge.

'Hmm, I can handle myself well.' Ash thought, walking into Viridian Forest with his three Pokémon. 'At least I didn't kill yet.' He blinked as he sensed something, and saw a Caterpie, one of the Bug Pokémon.

He considered his choices. Should he try to catch it? Well, he could use a Bug Pokémon. With that choice made, he decided to test his Pikachu. "Pikachu, use Thunder Shock."

Pikachu nodded, and fired yellow sparks of lighting at Caterpie, shocking the caterpillar, before Ash threw a Luxury Ball wordlessly. The Luxury Ball wriggled, and dinged, signalling it had been captured.

"Well, looks like we've got a new friend." Ash turned to his Espeon and Pikachu.

"**Yay!" **Pikachu was celebrating.

"Glad both of you like it." Ash smiled, letting Caterpie out. "We'll see what other new friends we can get into our group. Here, Caterpie, climb up on my shoulder."

"**Hi." **Caterpie was wriggling its tail, as Ash sat down and offered it an Oran Berry from his medical kit to restore Caterpie's health. **"Ooh, berries! I like you already."**

"As do I." Ash assured him. "Well, it's getting late, we might as well set up camp." With that, he took out his tent, pointing his staff at the misshapen canvas, which in one fluid motion rose into the air and settled, fully constructed, on to the ground, landing with a final thud at the end of a guy rope.

"**Impressive."** Pikachu was awed when he entered the tent, which resembled a small home. Espeon wasn't surprised, while Caterpie's eyes were shining. Ekans was hissing curiously as she was let out as well.

Ash set a fire in the fireplace, and the four Pokémon and trainer enjoyed the lunch boxes his mother had packed, with his birthday cake as dessert. Ash made a mental note to stock up or make some Pokémon Food once the abundant supply of lunch boxes run out.

As Ekans slithered over to him, curious, Ash said, "You're a beautiful snake, aren't you?" Ekans tilted her head. "I mean it. You're very pretty."

The Ekans looked at the boy and she gave a faint hiss. **"Really?" **No one had ever complimented her before, not even her previous owner.

Ash smiled at her, and the Ekans saw no danger or anything mildly bad in the boy's eyes but sincerity. She slithered up Ash's body and let her tongue tickle Ash's face. Ash laughed at the Ekans' actions, deciding she was an adorable one.

'Smooth, Ash.' Espeon thought, noting Ash won over Ekans with words alone and didn't fight Ash at all regarding him owning her. Ash smiled at the Ekans and petted her scales gently, earning a pleased hiss from her and she nuzzled her new trainer.

Ash also spent time with the other Pokémon, playing games like throwing treats and letting them catch it, and vice-versa. They then cuddled around the fire while he told a story over marshmallows.

"Alright, everyone. Time for bed." Ash announced, when the Pokémon started yawning. He helped his Pokémon onto the top bunk bed and he himself took the bottom bunk. As he went to sleep, however, he felt a slithering body at his feet. He looked and saw Ekans curl into a ball in between his feet. He used his feet to stroke her scales gently, and Ekans purred in content.

"Goodnight, everyone." Ash said, earning the same from his Pokémon. He wondered what tomorrow would bring.

Unknown to them, when they were sleeping, a Pidgey was looking for a place to rest and was hungry. Seeing the interior of Ash's tent through a small hole, the Pidgey let out a happy cry and pecked a hole to gain entrance.

Pidgey blinked at the packed up leftover food at one of the lunch boxes, and opened it with its beak. It tasted the food, and cried out in delight at how delicious it was and finished the food very quickly. Now that it was full, it now wanted a place to sleep, and those bunk beds seemed like a great place to sleep for now.

As it looked around and saw a trainer sleeping, it decided to sleep at the remaining space of the pillow his head didn't cover. Something about his aura made it feel safe, as it snuggled and drifted off to dreamland.

Ash was in for a big surprise the next day.

* * *

It was morning. Pidgeys were calling out to one another and other bird Pokémon were chattering to one another. Ash groggily opened an eye to the sounds and as the sunlight rays shone. Something cream coloured was near his face, and his eyes focused on a bird sleeping near his face. He blinked, and saw a Pidgey snoozing near him.

"Ah!" Ash was startled, almost toppling off the bed.

"**What's wrong? What's happening?"** Espeon asked, having been woken up by the shout. Pikachu and Ekans woke up as well, the former scratching his head and the latter blinking sleepily.

"What this Pidgey doing here?" Ash asked, pointing to the Pidgey, who chirped in affection.

"**I got hungry and found your tent, so I decided to rest. Thanks for the food and bed." **Pidgey answered, jumping around energetically. Ash took it in his arms, and Pidgey gave him innocent eyes.

"Ugh…" Ash groaned, seeing the empty lunch box. "You're welcome, I suppose. Do you want to stay for breakfast?"

The Pidgey nodded, as Ash chuckled and took out more lunch boxes for each of them. "Well my mum prepared a lot, so we may as well enjoy them."

After eating breakfast, Ash had repaired the hole Pidgey made, and got his tent to fold itself and the boxes to arrange themselves into another plastic bag, before packing it in his backpack.

After breakfast, Pidgey decided to stay with Ash for a while, as Ash decided to start training them, knowing if he wanted to beat Brock, he would have to make his Pokémon learn some moves.

"Now, the first thing I want you all to learn is…dodging attacks." Ash said to the Pokémon after breakfast. "Espeon and I would be firing moves at you, so it is up to you to use the environment or your abilities to either dodge or deflect the attacks Espeon or I send to you. Any questions?"

"**How are you going to-" **Pikachu asked, only for a blue bolt to disintegrate a tree. Pikachu gulped, as Ash's hand was outstretched.

"Ready…start!" Ash announced, as Espeon fired Shadow Balls while Ash fired blue bolts of aura, forcing all of them to run around and dodge, or use their moves to deflect it.

"**That Psybeam packed a punch!" **Ekans winced as her side was grazed.

"**You're telling me! I was barely able to throw that Shadow Ball somewhere else!" **Caterpie added.

"**Come on, show me more!" **Espeon demanded, using Swift to bombard everyone else. **"You think you've got it bad? I've faced worse trainings than that!" **As she said this, she winked, and pink hearts flew out. Ekans gasped, and took the hit for Pikachu, but it had no effect.

Caterpie screamed as he was thrown towards a tree by Psychic, but used String Shot to tie around a tree branch, and swung on it.

'Am I safe?' It thought, before Ash waved, and flicked it off the tree branch with his finger. Caterpie fell, screaming. However, Pidgey caught him, and said, **"This is cool! I want to join in!" **

"So, you decided to join in?" Ash asked Pidgey, placing his rapier at his side. When Pidgey nodded, Ash swapped the cylinder once more, and blew Pidgey back. Pidgey clung to the tree branch with her claws to prevent herself from being blown off.

"**That's it!"** Pikachu screamed, using his tail as a last resort to bat back the Psybeam. Unknown to him, his tail had glowed metallic, allowing him to absorb the Psybeam, and defect it back to Espeon, who backflipped to dodge.

At one point, Ash had stopped, and decided to sit down and meditate in order to focus and stabilize his demonic powers. For some reason, they were clamouring to be used during training, but Ash knew how dangerous using his demonic powers were, especially towards inexperienced Pokémon, which he deemed most of them as.

In the end, while it was gruelling and all of them lasted only fifteen minutes at best against Espeon's onslaught of attacks, the Pokémon ended up learning some new moves in the stimulated danger both Ash and Espeon posed. In fact, Caterpie evolved into Metapod in the process.

Ash nodded his approval at a first attempt well done and congratulated Metapod for evolving. He then healed them up before giving them their lunch break. After that, he told them they are continuing their way to Pewter City.

While walking, Ash detected yet another Bug Pokémon. He blinked and saw a yellow worm-looking Pokémon with a small horn on its head. It crawled closer, and tilted its head curiously at the trainer, who crouched down and scanned it with his Pokédex.

"Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon. A Common sight in forests, they usually eat leaves. It has a sharp venomous two-inch stinger on its head that secretes a strong poison to protect itself. A Weedle has an extremely acute sense of smell. It distinguishes its favorite kinds of leaves from those it dislikes by sniffing with its big red proboscis."

'Hmm, it does evolve to Beedrill, which can Mega Evolve.' Ash thought, and offered the Weedle some food from a lunch box. The Weedle sniffed it curiously, before consuming it, squealing at the taste of the food.

"You're one cute bug, aren't you?" Ash cooed. The Weedle blinked at the nice trainer's aura, and nuzzled his hand. This was one human it didn't mind to be with, and Weedle could tell he was strong too. It even hopped onto his palm and pointed to a Luxury Ball he had in his hand.

"You want me to catch you?" Ash was surprised. Weedle nodded, and was caught without a fuss.

"**You won't have your mother's charm, you said." **Espeon smirked, as they walked on, his new Weedle in a Luxury Ball.

"Shut up." Ash muttered.

There were footsteps behind him and Ash heard, "Greetings. Am I addressing the Pokémon trainer that comes from Pallet?" Ash turned and looked at saw a podgy, armoured skirt, samurai helmet wearing figure.

Ash shrugged and said, "You can say that. But I'm in a hurry right now." He did not notice the glint in the samurai's eyes.

"I have found you at last." The samurai said pulling out his sword. Ash narrowed his eyes at the movement he sensed, and took out his sabre and blocked the sword strike. Ash switched to Flying Dust, and blew the samurai over. He then threw the samurai boy against the tree with telekinesis and pointed the rapier at his throat.

This led to samurai doing the only thing his body could do…he pissed his pants in fear of the glowing icy blue eyes that seemed to look into his very soul.

"How cute, having a toy sword to challenge me." Ash whispered menacingly. "So, who are you and are you here to steal my Pokémon?"

"I-I-I am no Pokémon thief, I swear!" Samurai shit his pants when electricity ran down the rapier. "My name is Samurai and…"

"And now you stink." Ash stated calmly. "Now state your reason for searching for a trainer from Pallet Town, and you might be able to keep your family jewels."

'I keep thinking I am shrewd, fearless and completely invincible in combat. Now I know I am wrong. Way wrong.' Samurai thought in fear. "Ok, ok! I wanted a Pokémon match. That's all, I swear!"

"Oh really?" Ash said, glaring into his eyes. "I have a feeling if I were to be in the middle of catching a Pokémon, you'd put your battle first, interrupt me and causing me to let it escape, and then blame it on my poor Pokémon handling. Is that right?"

'Help!' Samurai thought, looking at the half-demon in front of him.

Ash stared flatly at the sheer stupidity of the boy known as Samurai. Who even attacks a trainer with a sharp blade just to challenge them to a Pokémon Battle?

"How foolish." Ash muttered making sure the boy could hear him, he watched him flinch before sighing and saying "If it's a Pokémon battle you want, then it'll be a Pokémon you get. Do your worst. Or do you want to die now?"

Ash then dropped Samurai onto the ground, and he dusted himself off, whimpering at the mess he made at his pants.

Ash non-verbally sent out Ekans and the purple snake curled up, observing the trainer in front of her. She wrinkled her nose at the smell coming from the samurai.

"Ah! You have an Ekans. I wasn't expecting a trainer such as yourself to own one. It takes skill to have one." The samurai observed.

"A skill you evidently don't possess." Ash retorted. "Well? What Pokémon are you going to show me?"

The samurai looked at the Ekans, trying to ignore the fact that he was frightened. Extremely so. "Hmmm…Alright. Let's go with this battle. Pinsir! Assume battle mode!" Out popped a Pinsir, and Ash smirked. He had learnt a lot about Pinsir so he knew what it could do.

More importantly, he knows their weaknesses.

"Pinsir, use…" Before he could say anything, Ash said, "Ekans, Toxic. Follow it up with Venoshock!" The Ekans released a spray of purple gas, poisoning Pinsir, and followed it up with a stream of purple, poisonous liquid from her mouth at Pinsir, fainting it instantly.

"Pinsir!" The samurai yelled, as Pinsir collapsed on the ground and did not move.

"What a novice." Ash sighed, shaking his head.

"Pinsir return!" cries Samurai, calling back his fainted Pokémon, as Ekans celebrated her first win.

"Well, let's see what other type of Pokémon you have." Ash gave him the "bring it on" gesture. Samurai then grabbed his other Poké Ball, and threw it, releasing a Metapod.

Ash twitched an eyebrow. 'Really? Ok, his loss. Let's switch the Pokémon.' He switched to his own Metapod, returning Ekans with a thanks.

"Metapod, use Harden!" Samurai commanded. His Metapod got ready to harden its body to increase its defense.

Samurai saw the chilling smirk on Ash's face, and Ash said, "Metapod. Use String Shot." Metapod fired a white string to tie Samurai's Metapod. "Now, swing it around."

Ash's Metapod swung Samurai's Metapod around and around, making it dizzy, much to Samurai's shock, and inwardly regretted challenging Ash.

Metapod threw Samurai's Metapod up in the air, and used String Shot to tie a tree branch to use as a momentum to swing above Samurai's Metapod, slamming it on the ground with Tackle, instantly fainting it.

"Y-You're even worse than all the other trainers from Pallet combined!" Samurai stuttered, looking at his fallen Metapod.

"Other Trainers from Pallet?" Ash looked darkly amused. "Have you fought Pokémon matches against Gary and the others?"

"Yeah." Samurai looked dejected. "There were three spectacular matches, each more challenging than the last! Those trainers really knew how to raise Pokémon, even though I was defeated all three times I was inspired to redouble my own training! I have been eagerly preparing for that day when finally, I would beat the next Pokémon trainer from Pallet!" He thought back on how Pinsir being burned by a Charmander, Metapod being blasted away by a Squirtle and Pinsir again getting a beating from a Bulbasaur.

"So that's why you've been waiting for me to show up." Ash folded his arms. "Sorry, but I am not as merciful as the other three." At that moment, his Metapod glowed, and evolved into Butterfree.

Ash then sensed something dangerous and grinned widely. Time for the boy to learn his lesson and not to mess with him.

With that, he returned his new Butterfree, and hugged Pikachu and Espeon and concealed his presence. He winked at Espeon, who snickered.

"Huh? What's that noise?" Samurai whipped his head around, and screamed when he saw the approaching, buzzing swarm of wasp-like Pokémon. "A Beedrill swarm approaches! Oh no, Metapod, return!"

Samurai returned the fainted Metapod to the Poké Ball, and started running towards his cabin, screaming at Ash to have a good day.

"He won't be able to make it." Ash commented, watching the swarm fly past him towards the samurai boy. "He should just lower his head and lift his buttocks to lessen the stings."

Ash can't help but chuckle as when he walked past Samurai, he was full of stings and his face and arms and legs were swollen and he could hardly walk, and the Beedrill was very relentlessly pecking at the helpless samurai. They did not notice Ash or his Pokémon due to their concealed presence and silent steps.

Ash sighed and shook his head, flipping open his phone and called the ambulance to come get a guy that had been stung by Beedrill, trying not to laugh as he reported the incident and the location of the attack.

"**You're so mean, Ash." **Pikachu chuckled, as Ash revealed a wallet with Pokédollars that he pickpocketed from Samurai.

"He'll survive. He needs to learn things the hard way." Ash shrugged, grinning. "The poison takes quite a while to sink in anyway. They can get to him by then and treat him."

"**That's not your money." **Espeon pointed out.

**"I almost feel sorry for him."** Pikachu remarked.

"I don't." Ash stated. "I figure if I have to deal with idiots like him, I might as well get paid."

* * *

Ash, Espeon and Pikachu were walking down a rocky pathway that lead into Pewter City. He looked ahead and saw the ledge. Smiling, he ran to the edge on a big boulder with the wind blowing his hair. He looked down at the scenery, amazed.

"**So, this is Pewter City." **Espeon nodded coolly.

"Pewter City is grey, the colour of stone," mumbled a low voice. "This town has always been famous...for stone."

Ash peered down on the boulder and saw an older man sitting down on the ground sitting near a bunch of rocks. He was a tanned-skinned man with dark brown hair with a wild beard. He wore a red beanie. He had a very short-sleeved yellow t-shirt and his pants were a worn-out forest green and had hiking brown boots on. Ash couldn't really see his face because of him being on the rock, but he was almost certain that the man was wearing a disguise.

**"Huh? What the?! Who's this old guy?" **Pikachu asked.

"How should I know, I never met him." Ash shrugged.

"The name's Flint. And you're sitting on some of my merchandise young man." The man named Flint stated.

Ash just stared the man down as he gracefully stepped off of the boulder before giving him a stare that made Flint have the impression that he was bored. The man visibly started and took a step back, flinching as he came closer. However, Ash then turned to examine the price tags on the rocks.

"They're Pewter City souvenirs. Want to buy some?" Flint squeaked.

Ash examined each of the rocks, using his Aura to scan them. He blinked as he felt one of the larger ones having an impression of a skin sail.

'Interesting.' Ash thought, wondering if the man knew if it had a fossil in it. Well, there's only one way to find out. Ash placed a hand to the stone that held the object and used his Aura once more, sensing the minute trace of a life force emitting from it. He smirked, as he knew he finally found a fossil of his own.

"That one is 400 Pokédollars, kid." Flint spoke, looking at where the child was pointing at. Or was he a preteen?

Ash blinked and stood staring at Flint for a few moments, wondering if he should tell him about the Fossil, considering the Pokémon it contained wasn't even from Kanto. Flint didn't know that though and he started sweating under Ash's icy gaze. He felt like he was a Caterpie that is facing down a Legendary Pokémon and croaked out, "Ok, ok, for you kid, it'll be 200 Pokédollars, half price…ok?"

Flint prayed that Ash would just stop giving him that look. It was like he was the devil reincarnate. If only he knew of Ash's heritage.

Ash finished his inner debate regarding the fossil he sensed, before nodding to Flint and pulling out his wallet to pay. After all, he knew just how the fossil could be restored.

Besides, money was never the issue with him, considering who his family was, and some money he took from Team Rocket, samurai and a few other trainers he ran into on the way out of Viridian Forest. Taking out 200 Pokédollars, he handed it over to Flint.

"You need help with that, kid?" Flint asked, gesturing towards the large stone.

Ash shook his head, and nodded to Espeon, who used Psychic to lift it easily. Ash would have done it himself, but it'll raise suspicion that he was not who he seemed.

Ash and Espeon arrived at the Pokémon Center, where Ash walked over and grabbed a Poké Ball tray and placed all the Luxury Balls and Pikachu was sitting on the tray itself.

"Please take care of my Pokémon." Ash said politely.

Nurse Joy smiled, "Sure! Right away Ash."

Once Nurse Joy left, Ash turned to the stone that contained the Fossil and used his Aura to pinpoint where exactly the Fossil was. Once he did, based on where he felt the life force was strongest, he took a deep breath before using a finger to flick a weak point, sending a powerful pulse of Aura.

In an instant, the slab of stone crumbled to powder and revealed a perfectly intact and carved Fossil. Ash then placed the Fossil securely in a box that had cushions in it, and placed it in his backpack.

"Have you seen that poster?" asked Joy as she returned to the counter. Ash turned and saw the poster that advertised Pokémon League Regional Championships and encouraging Trainers to enter, as the trainers of today are the masters of tomorrow.

'The usual 8 Badges requirement.' Ash thought, sighing inwardly. 'What else is new?'

"**Think we can do it?" **Espeon smirked.

"With enough time, yes." Ash nodded, as they sat down on a nearby table outside to eat, with Ash giving them lunch boxes and cake as usual. The good thing was, his mother prepared differing dishes for each lunch box, so they do not end up eating the same thing.

"Don't tell me that you plan on challenging Brock the Pewter City Gym Leader?" Flint said, walking towards Ash.

Ash turned his glare at Flint, causing him to say hastily, "Never mind, good luck with your match!" And ran away.

"Coward." Ash muttered. 'Gym Leaders may be different from the everyday Pokémon trainer, but when had that ever stopped us? If I am not wrong, Brock uses Rock-type Pokémon.'

After his meal, they made their way back to the Pokémon Center and Ash found that his Pokémon were healed.

"Well Ash. No more waiting. Your Pokémon are all in full health." Nurse Joy said with a smile.

"Great. Thank you, Nurse Joy." Ash said with a grin.

She nodded and watched him walk off. "Good luck Ash."

* * *

Ash looked at the Pewter City Gym, which was made out of huge boulders. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm the anxiety in him, as he knew it would be the first step to prove his skills as a trainer.

He didn't even need aura or psychic powers or even look at his Espeon and Pikachu to know they were concerned about him.

'Alright, no matter what happens, I must stay calm and think of my next move.' Ash thought. 'No point in panicking when the opponent does get a drop on me.' With that, Ash suddenly snapped his eyes open, his eyes flashing for a second. He was ready.

After ensuring so, he took that final step and entered the building. The first thing he noticed once inside was that it was pitch dark so he used his Aura to scan the gym. He sensed someone, presumably the Gym Leader, sitting on an elevated rock on the far end of the room was someone.

His eyes narrowed with determination and with that determined look on his face, he walked towards the main area of the Gym.

"Who goes there?" a voice boomed.

Ash did not answer, as he just kept his eyes firmly on the Gym Leader as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He heard the slight hum of electricity, indicating the lights around that person would be turned on soon, and Ash did not waver at that. 'What a lame tactic.' Ash thought.

The lights turned on, and the person sitting on the rock was revealed. He was a tanned-skinned looking boy with wild brown spiky hair and had a stern looking face and eyes shut. He wore a copper coloured T-shirt and a light forest green vest. He was wearing a pair of light brown jeans and dark brown belt and black shoes.

'He must be the Gym Leader, Brock.' Ash thought, as Brock's stern gaze wavered and he visibly flinched at Ash's icy blue gaze on him.

Brock jumped off his seat from the boulder and walked towards Ash, still trying to intimidate the boy before him. Now that the lights were on, he could tell the challenger was a preteen like himself…or so he thought.

"Thanks, but I'm only ten." Ash corrected dryly, shocking Brock. He must have said that out loud.

Now that Brock thought of it, something about him told him the challenger was new to the Pokémon League, but nevertheless Brock stood tall as he finally reached to the front of Ash.

"I am Brock, Pewter City's Gym Leader." Brock said before pausing for effect and continuing "What is your name, challenger?"

Ash stared at the Gym Leader. He was as tall as him despite their age gap being around five years. He could instantly tell that he was unnerving the Gym Leader and raised his eyebrow. What was he so afraid of? He wouldn't bite after all.

"I am Ash…Ketchum of Pallet Town." Ash told Brock calmly. "Leader Brock, I challenge you to an official Pokémon battle…do you accept?"

Brock tried and failed to suppress the shiver that went down his spine at Ash's cool tone but he nodded his acceptance before walking quickly towards the other side of the field, wanting to be as far away from Ash as possible.

"The rules are in accordance with the Pokémon League's code so therefore it will be a 2 vs 2 Pokémon battle. Only you, the challenger, is allowed to substitute between your chosen two Pokémon and the battle ends when either side's Pokémon are unable to continue. Do you understand, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town?" Brock asked.

"Undoubtedly." Was Ash's quiet response. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Let's get this over with." At that moment, Brock felt that the look in Ash's eyes looked very similar to someone he knew, but couldn't quite put his finger as to who.

"Then let's begin." Brock stuttered, as the lights above flashed on, the walls rise up and before Ash's eyes, large rocks are rolled out onto the battlefield. Brock then threw a Poké Ball into the air, opening it to reveal a Geodude.

Ash sighed. 'Really? How's a Geodude supposed to test new trainers?'

Just for show, he pulled out his Pokédex to scan the Rock-type Pokémon.

"Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. The longer a Geodude lives, the more its edges are chipped and worn away, making it more rounded in appearance. However, this Pokémon's heart will remain hard, craggy, and rough always. When Geodude sleeps deeply, it buries itself halfway into the ground. It will not awaken even if hikers step on it unwittingly as it is easy for them to be mistaken for boulders. In the morning, this Pokémon rolls downhill in search of food. It is impossible to distinguish from rocks at rest. It slams against others in contests of hardness. Carelessly stepping on it will sometimes make it swing its fists angrily." The Pokédex said.

Ash considered his choices of Pokémon and the battle strategies and moves he could use in battle, before deciding to go with a disadvantage to throw Brock off. After all, it wasn't as if he had hacked into the cameras to watch Brock's previous battles for nothing and could come up with over two hundred battle scenarios and outcomes based on that and what he knew about Rock types. With that in mind, he took out his Poké Ball and tossed it into the air.

"Pidgey, lend me your aura." Ash said.

Brock was incredulous. Didn't Ash know that Flying types were weak to Rock types?

"I know that." Ash gave a calm smile, but it looked chilling to Brock. "You may have the first move."

"Geodude, let's use Tackle!" Brock commanded, and Geodude charged towards Pidgey to execute the attack.

"Pidgey, use Gust." Ash commanded. "And then use Double Team." He whispered the last part. Pidgey created tornadoes to cover herself, but due to Geodude's strong defences, it was able to soldier on to his Pidgey…or so he thought.

"Gotcha!" Brock smirked, watching Pidgey hit the ground.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked, smirking. At the next moment but Brock gasped at the copy of Pidgey fading. Brock looked around for Pidgey, only to see her dive down towards Geodude from above, and Ash said, "Use Steel Wing."

Pidgey's wings became metallic, and it used them to hit Geodude in the face, making it crash into the ground and creating a giant crater under him from the strength of the attack.

Brock widened his eyes at the casual display of power the little Pidgey had, and noticed Geodude was on his last legs from the attack alone.

Brock knew at that moment, he couldn't win, and decided to try and take his opponent down with him. "Geodude use Explosion!"

Ash narrowed his eyes at that move. He knew that was generally a coward's move, and not even his parents dared use those types of moves just to gain a win. In fact, they had specifically told their Pokémon not to use it unless they feel a need to and the Pokémon used it at their own discretion. After all, it is not really a win if you are willing to risk your Pokémon's well-being just to even things out.

"I commend you for risking your Pokémon to win." Ash said sarcastically and coldly. "But I'm afraid I'll have to prevent this…Pidgey, contain Geodude with Hurricane and use Protect."

Brock flinched at the icy tone in Ash's comment and he realized that Ash was true to his word for Geodude was surrounded and thrown around in the strong move and while it was being blown around, Geodude had finished charging Explosion and exploded violently. Pidgey wasn't hit due to the Protect absorbing most of the energy, leaving her safe.

Ash watched passively as Geodude fell from a great height, and hit one of the rocks with swirls in his eyes, and collapsed on the ground. While Ash wished that the battle ended differently, he wasn't feeling very sympathetic towards Brock either for using that move.

Brock returned Geodude, a sigh of defeat coming out of his mouth.

"Ash…I-I…" Brock began only to be cut off by Ash.

"So, do you surrender…" Ash said, "Or do you want to risk another Pokémon?" At the last sentence, his icy blue eyes glowed blue.

Brock swallowed nervously, thinking that this boy definitely wasn't normal. His skills, strategy and effortless control over the battle in general was way beyond some novice trainer and he wondered what kind of trainer he just had the misfortune to underestimate.

'I can't surrender now!' Brock thought. "Sorry Ash, but I can't give up this battle…Go Onix!"

Ash shook his head. Brock cannot fool him with that tone. He had already heard his voice waver very slightly and he knew his mind wasn't completely focused, full of panic and domination has been established.

"Pikachu, go." Ash nodded, and Pikachu jumped onto the battlefield, sparks emitting from his cheeks.

'I may look like I'm at the advantage due to Onix's immunity to Electric-type moves, but this is just a façade.' Brock thought, inwardly panicking.

While Brock was deep in his thoughts, Ash decided to scan the Onix.

"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. Onix has a magnet in its brain. It acts as a compass so that this Pokémon does not lose direction while it is tunnelling. It twists and squirms through the ground at 50 mph using its long and rugged body. It always eats large boulders or massive amounts of soil while burrowing, and the thunderous roar of its tunnelling echoes a long way. The tunnels it leaves are used as homes by Diglett. As it grows older, its body becomes increasingly rounder and smoother and the stone portions of its body harden to become similar to a diamond, but colored black." The Pokédex said.

Brock decided to make the first move. "Onix, use Tackle!" Pnix charged towards Pikachu, about to tackle him into the wall.

Ash knew he would do that, taking advantage of size. "Pikachu, jump and use Fling." Pikachu jumped high up in the air with his tail, and throw something into Onix's mouth, causing it to wonder what Pikachu put in his mouth.

"Now, use Thunderbolt." Ash commanded, smirking as he knew what item Pikachu threw into Onix's mouth. Pikachu fired a large amount of yellow electricity at Onix, shocking an hurting it, to Brock's surprise.

"What?" Brock was surprised.

"What Pikachu threw was a Ring Target." Ash explained. "It removes type immunities. Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Pikachu's tail grew metallic, and it slammed Onix on the head, causing it to crash to the ground. However, Onix wasn't down for the count yet.

"Onix, use Bind!" Brock shouted desperately.

"Pikachu, Magnet Rise." Pikachu's body glowed yellow as he floated upwards, avoiding the tail about to be wrapped around it. "Follow it up with Rain Dance."

Brock gasped, as he knew Onix was weak to water.

"ONIX!" Brock cried in warning, but Ash was faster.

"Finish it with Thunder." Ash knew Thunder won't miss due to Rain Dance.

Brock watched helplessly as the high-powered electric attack struck Onix at point black, with Onix howling in pain for a while. When Thunder ended, Ash commanded for Pikachu to use Iron Tail once more. The impact of the Iron Tail was enough to make Onix cough out the Ring Target, and the Rock Snake Pokémon fell forward and crashed onto the ground, unconscious.

"It's over." Ash said to Brock. Brock sighed before returning Onix, as Ash petted his Pikachu affectionately for a job well done. "Thank you for the battle. I wished you didn't use such a dangerous move, though."

Brock winced but he nodded and apologised sincerely for that action during the match, and Ash nodded his acceptance of the apology. He blinked, as he sensed something, or rather, someone in the gym with them, and he had a good idea of who it was.

"Leader Brock, I believe that your father wishes to have a moment of your time but due to his lack of confidence, he was unable to find the courage to approach." Ash nodded faintly, and pointed. "If you ask me, you should approach him before he runs away through the side door over there. I shall be at the Pokémon Center should you wish to present me with my badge." With that, he turned and exited the gym.

* * *

Ash walked over to the Pokémon Center, and quietly requested for his Pokémon to be checked, specifically his Pidgey and his Pikachu. Not that they took any damage from the Gym Battle, but still they did fire off some powerful moves, which required stamina as well. When Nurse Joy nodded her assent, Ash walked out of the Pokémon Center, and found an alley.

Making sure to cast an illusion to compel others not to look at the alleyway, Ash opened his compact that Phillip had given him and dialled his mother.

"Hello, Ash." Amethyst appeared on the screen as a hologram. She was sitting on a chair, apparently grooming the bunch of Pokémon gathered around her.

"Hello, mother." Ash smiled.

"Honey, is everything okay? Where are you, Ash?" Amethyst tried to ignore the Skitty pawing at her hair.

"Pokémon Center in Pewter City. I just won a Gym match." Ash replied.

"Oh, already? As expected of my son." Amethyst nodded proudly.

"I still have lots more to work on." Ash answered. "It's only the first step."

"Oh Ash, you're doing fine. You're my son, you can go through anything." Amethyst encouraged. "Now I'm sure you didn't call just to say hi now, do you?"

"Of course not, mother." Ash replied coolly, as he removed the Fossil he had obtained from his backpack. "This is a Pokémon Fossil that I have obtained and I wanted to know just what Pokémon is in there and if you could revive it."

"Sure. Send it over." Ash nodded, and typed a few commands into the hologram keyboard, teleporting the Fossil to his mother, who received it. He sighed as the moment his mother walked off screen, presumably to Phillip.

Not even a few minutes later, his mother returned with a quadruped, dinosaurian Pokémon that resembled a sauropod. It was light blue with a white underbelly and had a long neck, a short, stubby tail, and a single white claw on each hind foot. Above each of its large, deep blue eyes was an iridescent, sail-like structure.

"It's an Amaura. Isn't she cute, Ash?" Amethyst asked, transporting the sleeping Pokémon back to him.

"Yeah." Ash smiled as he gently caressed the Tundra Pokémon's head, using his aura to soothe the sleeping Pokémon. There was an immediate reaction as Amaura immediately woke up, and blinked when she saw Ash's icy blue eyes. She blinked, and when she finally moved, she nuzzled Ash with a happy noise.

"Hmm…well, revived Pokémon usually do behave similarly to a hatched baby Pokémon at times." Amethyst said thoughtfully, smiling as she watched Ash ponder this with a soft smile as he petted Amaura.

'Hello, Amaura. My name is Ashura.' Ash introduced himself via aura. 'If you wish to be raised by me, be prepared for hard work and gruelling training as I would do my best to make you the strongest Pokémon out there. Are you up for it?'

The Amaura was awed by the human that was able to communicate with him other than speaking to it, and knew he likely would understand whatever she was saying, so she chirped her assent, and adopted an expression that screamed pure determination.

Ash had to chuckle at how cute she was, and turned back to his mother. "Thanks, mum."

"You're welcome, Ash. Wait until the others hear you won a Gym Badge already!" Amethyst gushed. "They'll be thrilled."

"It wasn't too hard." Ash shrugged. "He let his guard down when he thought he had the advantage."

"Ah, you won despite a type disadvantage? Even better!" Amethyst winked. "Have you been training every day?"

"Yes, mum." Ash rubbed his head at that question. After all, in addition to training the Pokémon, he had to train himself as well.

"I look forward to hear from you again, Ash!" Amethyst smiled. "Bye, Ash. Love you!"

"Bye, mum. Love you too." Ash grinned back.

Later, Ash sat at a table, eating one of those lunch boxes once more with his Pokémon, and sipping some tea that he had ordered while waiting for Pikachu and Pidgey to be examined by Nurse Joy.

As Brock came in to the Pokémon Center lounge, wearing a travelling pack for some reason, he spotted Ash eating, and handed his Pokémon to Nurse Joy, before taking a seat across him. Ash nodded politely towards him when Brock greeted him nervously.

"Want one?" Ash offered a lunch box, and Brock politely accepted. When he ate, he wished he knew who made it, as it was supremely delicious and was the best thing he ever tasted.

"There's more where that came from." Ash said, eating quietly. "So, how can I help you, Leader Brock? Judging from your body language and expression, you seem to want something from me."

"Well first of all, I wanted to officially give you your Boulder Badge." Brock replied as he took a shiny, sparkly, boulder-shaped Badge out of his pocket and slid it across the table between them. "I also wanted to thank you for helping my family with my father…Thanks."

Ash blinked boredly and said, "Whatever. It wasn't hard to deal with your father anyway."

Brock just huffed, but gave a genuine smile "Seriously Ash… may I call you Ash?"

At Ash's nod he continued "Then please call me Brock but if I may ask, Ash…who were your parents?"

"I'll answer your question if you'd answer mine first." Ash answered, and Brock nodded.

"Brock, you get more pleasure from raising Pokémon than from making them battle, don't you?" Ash asked. "You'd rather be a Pokémon Breeder."

"How did you know that?" Brock was surprised.

"I saw it through the way the Pokémon was raised." Ash shrugged. "Why didn't you, though?"

"Because I have to look after my brothers and sisters. But my father offered to take care of them for me, and I just finished giving him instructions for my siblings, so now I could fulfil my dream." Brock grinned, indicating the travelling pack that was on his back. "So, can you answer my question?"

"Could you keep a secret?" Ash asked, lowering his voice, and Brock nodded.

Ash sighed, hating to share a secret with a stranger, but he knew he could make sure Brock doesn't talk anyway, so he took out a family picture, and gave it to Brock.

Brock widened his eyes at the picture. It was the Dragon Duo!

"I-I knew they had a son, but it was you?" Brock whispered, as Ash snatched back the picture. No wonder he looked familiar. He was an uncanny resemblance to Shiki Kurobane. "But why would you have an alias?"

Before Ash could say a word, it was announced that both their Pokémon were fully healed. Ash and Brock went over to the counter to collect their Pokémon, with Pikachu jumping into his arms.

"Well then, best of luck to you, Brock." Ash nodded, about to take his leave.

"Wait, Ash!" Brock called to him. Ash turned to him and Brock said, "Is it ok if I come along with you?"

Ash turned to his trusted Espeon, who said, **"Come on Ash. You probably would be less lonely on the travels. You can keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't spill your secrets."**

"Do what you want." Ash answered, and Brock took that as a yes.

* * *

Ash and his new companion started hiking their way to Mt. Moon, where Ash was idly looking at the landscape around them. Ash liked this forest hiking trail.

"Well, to get to the next city we'd have to go through a cave called Mt. Moon. Legend has it that there are Clefairy and Moon Stone in there." said Brock to Ash, who nodded quietly. "People say that a meteor crashed into the mountain back in prehistoric times, which was how the Moon Stone came by."

Ash sighed, disinterested. They made it to the entrance of Mt. Moon, only to see a man being attacked by a bunch of angry Zubats. The man on the ground was trying to make himself small to avoid getting attacked by the Zubat.

"That man's in trouble!" Brock said. "Let's help him."

Meanwhile, Ash took out his Pokédex to scan Zubat. "Zubat, the Bat Pokémon. They form colonies in perpetually dark places. A blind Pokemon with supersonic powers, it uses reflection of the ultrasonic waves from its mouths to identify and approach targets and to check for objects in its way. Zubat remains quietly unmoving in a dark spot during the bright daylight hours. It does so because prolonged exposure to the sun causes its body to become slightly burned."

'Not these Zubats apparently.' Ash thought, rolling his eyes. "Alright, Pikachu, let's help that guy. Use Thunderbolt."

Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity, and zapped all the Zubats with a yellow beam of electricity. This forced them to fly back into the cave, and Ash watched disinterestedly as Brock threw a Poké Ball at one of the one of the weakened Zubats and caught it. Ash shrugged, not wanting a Zubat for himself.

"You alright, mister?" Ash said, raising his eyebrow.

The man seemed to have a lot of energy, despite being attacked by the Zubats earlier. He quickly stood up with a big smile on his face and immediately jumped towards Ash shouting about amazing rescues but before he could even reach for Ash, he found himself pinned on the ground hard.

Ash stared blankly and said, "Don't touch me without permission next time." With that, he got off the man, allowing the man to get to his feet and dust his clothes off. "Got it, sir?"

The man nodded slowly before crying out dramatically, "Never call me Sir! You may call me Seymour…Seymour the Scientist."

'Ugh really?' Ash thought, already irritated with this man. "Very well then, Mr. Seymour. Care to explain why the Zubat felt the need to openly attack you?"

"The Zubats were attacking me because they were confused." Seymour answered, taking them inside Mt. Moon to see the place was lit with lights. All the Pokémon around the area were acting weird: Paras were planting their mushrooms everywhere and the lights were drying the Sandshrew up.

Ash clenched his fists as he saw the poor brick-patterned yellow coated mouse panting. He walked over and knelt down to talk to it. "Hey little one, are you alright?"

"**I'm thirsty…" **The Sandshrew squeaked.

Ash gave a sad and small smile, and dug into his bag, getting out a large bowl and filling it up with water with his magic. "Here you go, little guy. Some water for you and your friends." Pikachu gave a smile and nuzzled at his trainer's kindness. Brock blinked, but smiled at Ash's surprising kindness.

Seymour blinked in astonishment and said worriedly, "Anyway, these lights were put up just recently and I'm trying to find the troublemakers behind this madness."

"But why would anyone want to do that?" Brock asked.

"I'm afraid it's because of the Moon Stone." Seymour sighed. "The Moon Stone originated from this place, so it belongs to the Pokémon. We humans must not take them!"

"They must have done this to steal the Moon Stone." Ash whispered, his eyes glowing with anger. Ash was pissed. Who dares to cause such harm to the Pokémon just because of this? If he ever found out who did it, they were going to pay!

They were interrupted, however a small pink Pokémon jumping past them holding a rock in its hands. Ash blinked, and took out his Pokédex to analyse it.

"Clefairy, the Fairy Pokémon. Clefairy has many admirers for its magical and cute appeal. It's very rare and only found in certain areas. On every night of a full moon, groups of this Pokémon come out to play. Bathed in moonlight, its wings glow faintly. Without even flapping, Clefairy rises into the air, where it dances around. It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon. When dawn arrives, the tired Clefairy return to their quiet mountain retreats and go to sleep nestled up against each other. It flies using the wings on its back to collect moonlight." The Pokédex said.

'Hmm…one of the Pokémon my mother owned. I can see the appeal to the female trainers.' Ash thought. Just then, he felt a tug on his jeans, and looked down to see the same Sandshrew from before.

"Hey, little guy. I was wondering where you went." Ash said, taking the bowl the Sandshrew offered.

The Sandshrew hugged his leg, nuzzling it. Ash chuckled a little and rubbed its head, making it squeak with happiness.

"**Help!" **Ash heard the distant cry for help, but the rest didn't. "Well, I can't stay here, little guy. I have a Pokémon to save."

"**Take me with you!" **Sandshrew squeaked.

Ash slipped away without Brock or Seymour noticing and slid into the next pathway to spot a man in a black uniform with a giant red R on the front and back. He had cornered the Clefairy and was advancing on it with an aura that had malice in it.

"Don't be scared. Just hand over that Moon Stone, Clefairy." He gave a dark grin.

Ash took out his sabre, knowing he was from Team Rocket and was likely behind those lights in the cave. He silently walked up to the man and pierced him through his throat, causing him to choke on his own blood. Blood splattered on his clothes, but it didn't matter.

Ash nodded for Clefairy to go, and Clefairy ran away in fear, hugging the stone she was carrying.

Ash wiped the blood from his sabre, as Sandshrew blinked at him, before shrugging and hugging his leg again. Ash cleaned himself with a spell and walked back towards Brock and Seymour, who had noticed him gone.

"What were you doing?" Brock asked. "You were gone!"

"Just exploring. Don't worry." Ash answered coolly, putting away his sabre. He frowned as he sensed more presence outside the cave. It was likely like the trio, the man didn't work alone.

"We need to follow the Clefairy." Ash said, pointing to the Clefairy that was running away. 'Something tells me that the other members would be waiting for it.'

Meanwhile, the Clefairy bounced over a hill still clutching a piece of the Moon Stone in its paws, and both Brock and Seymour gave chase, struggling to climb after it. Ash, however managed to climb quickly and efficiently to the top, with Sandshrew on his head, Pikachu on his shoulder and Espeon on his back.

True to Ash's predication, as Clefairy jumped on the grassy part of the mountain, standing on a natural bridge over a nearby river, she realized a pair of Team Rocket grunts were waiting for her.

"We've got you now, little Clefairy." A man smirked.

Ash scowled as Brock and Seymour slipped in surprise, and was about to fall into the river below them. He sighed as he took out the staff his mother gave him, and conjured an inflatable boat beneath them to catch them, before using his hand as a momentum to jump up to face the Team Rocket members.

"Not so fast, Team Rocket." Ash said emotionlessly. "You'd have to go through me."

"Oh cute, a toy staff." A woman laughed, only to stop laughing when a blast from the staff incinerated the member next to her, and she found herself pinned to the tree with telekinesis.

"Fire-based spell." Ash answered quietly. "I was willing to let go of one Team Rocket team once for trying to steal sick Pokémon. But harming Pokémon while trying to steal something that doesn't belong to you…is the last straw." His icy blue eyes glowed, and the woman's head exploded.

Clefairy sniffled, and Ash got his Pokémon to comfort her to the best they could, while he cleaned up the area of evidence, and taking some of their money on hand, and releasing their Pokémon. It was a good thing he was able to control what he could actually burn with his fire-based spell, he thought, as he removed the charred corpse's undamaged Poké Balls.

'Maybe next time I shouldn't openly kill in front of a Pokémon.' Ash thought, as Clefairy started clinging to him in affection.

* * *

Ash, Brock and Seymour soon found themselves eating the lunch boxes Ash had passed to them in a small clearing off the beaten track that was protected from view by trees and large boulders after sending the Clefairy back to the cave and taking care of the lights in the cave.

Ash, however, was thinking that the troubles were far from over. It was likely they won't send just three people to do the job, there's likely more people to take care of. He couldn't believe he was already killing this early in the journey. Now he knew why his parents gave him the Hunter's License. To protect all those Pokémon from people like them.

'So, Team Rocket has finally begun to move once more, but why now of all times?' Ash thought. 'Could it be that their leader needed more resources to take down someone? What's their target then?'

Ash widened his eyes, knowing the target could have been the Dragon Duo's son. Him. Everyone knew his age and was awaiting the day he appeared in the Pokémon journey. However, his mother had made the plan, and he had gone along with it. Could it be that the reason why she made the plan in the first place was because of this?

On the big boulder behind them Clefairy and Sandshrew sat watching the trainers, specifically Ash, and chatted to each other.

"**I like him." **Sandshrew said. **"He is a kind trainer and clearly values Pokémon." **

"**Yeah, he willingly killed them to protect me…" **Clefairy replied, tightening her hold on the little Moon Stone in her arms.

"**I want to go with him." **Sandshrew stated.

Clefairy thought about it, and nodded at him liking the idea too. She called for their attention as she walked off, prompting the others to follow her. It led them down a pathway in the woods with Clefairy jumping happily and Sandshrew trotting behind her.

"Where are you taking us, Clefairy?" Brock asked, as Clefairy pointed to another cave, with the group walking down the pathway and following Clefairy. It led them straight down the path and when they got to the opening, they stopped and stared.

In the circular cave with no roof, letting the moon shine down on a large glittering rock surrounded by an almost unbroken ring of Moon Stone Fragments.

"It's the core of the Moon Stone." Seymour said with wonder in his eyes.

"So, the Moon Stone legend is true." Brock said with amazement.

Ash watched as Clefairy put her Moon Stone rock in between the other rocks around the Moon Stone core. The moment this was done, each small stone started to glow a soft aqua blue, along with the core. Then, other Clefairy started to come out of the cave openings and walked their way to the Moon Stone.

Ash, however, knew he had no time, as he made his way to the entrance of the cave, knowing whoever was behind this operation had been tracking them. As Brock and Seymour was too awestruck by the display of Clefairy and the Moon Stone, Ash made his way to the entrance cave, concealing his presence.

"You followed them there?" A voice asked.

"No doubt the Moon Stone is here." Another agreed. "Has Terra got back to you?"

"No, the three members have been MIA after going after that Clefairy." The first voice said.

"Ugh, what have they been doing?" The second person demanded. "Could you try and contact them again to come here?"

"They won't be here." Ash said, stepping out of the cave, and sealing the entrance with his aura, glaring at them with his icy blue eyes. Espeon and Pikachu glared at them as well.

"W-Why not?" The man stuttered, frightened by the look in his eyes.

"G-Get out of our w-way, boy!" The other man added, trying to sound intimidating, but Ash knew he was frightened of him.

The first man tried taking out a Poké Ball, only to see it sealed with magic, making it difficult to open them.

"Spare us!" The first man wet his pants, as he couldn't move, and Ash was approaching them slowly.

"Don't we get a choice?" The second squeaked.

Ash took out his sabre and said, "I'll let you choose…the way you die."

An electric-like explosion happened so afterwards, the sound shocking Brock and Seymour. When they looked around, they realized Ash was missing. "Ash?" Brock called.

"Who called?" Ash asked, walking into the cave.

"Where were you?" Brock asked, as in the background the floating pieces in the air fell down, evolving some of the Clefairy into Clefable. "You went off again!"

Ash shrugged and said, "Just had some things to take care of." He had known what would happen after all, and wasn't too interested in seeing it throughout. Although he must say, seeing it evolve like this was a sight to behold.

Ash took out his Pokédex to scan Clefable, yawning and wondering if that was what his parents did when they were his age. "Clefable, the Fairy Pokémon. A timid fairy Pokémon that is rarely seen. It will run and hide the moment it senses people. They appear to be very protective of their own world. And its ears are sensitive enough to pick up sounds from far away, so it does not like loud noises or busy places and usually hides in quiet places. Clefable moves by skipping lightly as if it were flying using its wings. Its bouncy step lets it even walk on water. It is known to take strolls on lakes on quiet, moonlit nights. Some scientists believe that it gazes intently at the sky on nights with a full moon because it's homesick. According to tradition, people who see a pair of Clefable skipping by can look forward to a happy marriage." The Pokédex said.

As they watched the Clefairy and Clefable chant and dance all the way back to the Moon Stone's resting spot, Seymour turned to Ash and Brock. "I decided to move here with the Clefairy." He said, smiling.

"Huh?" Brock was shocked, while Ash looked on impassively.

"It's been my life's dream to find the moonstone. Someday I'll travel to the stars with the Clefairy." Seymour explained.

"When you do visit outer space. I hope you remember to send us a post card." Brock replied with a grin.

'Honestly, I could care less what he does.' Ash thought.

The next morning the group was getting ready to leave. Brock turned and waved at Seymour, "So long! Seymour! Goodbye, Clefairy!"

Ash only nodded curtly towards Seymour and the group of Clefairy. They were about to walk off when he heard two voices say, **"Wait, please!" **Both of them all stopped and saw a pair of Pokémon running towards them, a Clefairy and a Sandshrew. Both of them grabbed on Ash's legs.

"**Can we come with you?" **Sandshrew asked.

"**Please? I may not have evolved but I want to come." **Clefairy was in tears for not evolving with the Moon Stone.

'Clefairy.' Ash talked to Clefairy through telepathy. 'It's ok if you didn't. Evolution isn't everything. I rather teach you everything before evolving you, rather than evolving you immediately with a stone.'

'**Really?' **Clefairy looked hopeful. **'Would you take me even if I didn't evolve?'**

Ash gave a single nod, making Brock wonder what kind of non-verbal communication are they having.

Sandshrew squeaked and nuzzled Ash's leg as Ash smiled and petted both their heads.

"You want to come?" Ash asked them, and they both nodded. "If you're both sure. Welcome to the team." With that, he threw two Luxury Balls at them that hit them gently on the head.

The two Pokémon were instantly caught, and was teleported back to Professor Primula's lab, and subsequently, back to his mother's PokéResort. Knowing his mother, she would have built a facility specifically for his Pokémon by now.

Ash and Brock walked out of the forest surrounding Mt. Moon and entered a fork in the road. They looked and saw a sign in the middle of the road, and Brock said, "This road leads to Cerulean City." Then the older boy noticed something.

"Hey there's something else scribbled here." Brock muttered.

"Childish people sometimes writes stupid notes." Ash rolled his eyes, coming up to see what the note said.

_Gary was here! Ash is a loser!_

Ash blinked blankly at the message, not saying anything. Brock shivered as he felt the temperature drop by at least ten degrees. While his expression looked normal, something about his icy blue eyes made the look in his face scary. Brock knew at that moment, he didn't want to be this Gary guy.

Ash simply walked on, his expression blank and unchanging. Brock hurried after him, and both headed towards Cerulean City. What awaits there, only time would tell.

**BP: Well, FS and AV would have to wait for a while since I need to assemble that list that I showed you on the previous chapter's Author's Notes. If you'd like to send any suggestions, do so through review or PM, doesn't matter, since I want to assemble that list to finish the last chapter of FS. So, I would be working on this fanfiction for a while until I can work on FS' last chapter as I had this idea for a long time coming, and would like to express it in writing.**

**I would try to write this fanfiction in the way that it completely differs from the original anime, and I may skip some of the episodes per say if I feel it isn't important enough to write it in, since I didn't like some of the episodes which I considered a filler and replace it with scenes of Ash training with his Pokémon or himself. I'll also let my writing do the talking to show you how Ash is like after being raised by his parents, who probably weren't the best in raising a child, but nevertheless wants him to be happy. I'm looking forward on developing my writing during the course of this story like I did FS…or so I hoped I had done in FS.**

**I'm considering letting Ash catch more Pokémon that he didn't, such as an Eevee which he'll evolve, since I'm so miffed that whenever an Eevee pops up, it's caught by one of the female travelling companions, like May, Serena and Lana! I don't even like the Sun and Moon anime or the companions to be honest. **

**I also consider making this a little darker, since in the anime, I hate how Team Rocket keeps following Ash for ALL the regions he has been through. I mean, don't they ever get tired of their plans failing again and again? Hence, I had Ash pre-empt this from happening, though they may meet again, who knows, and replace them with actual threatening Team Rocket members whom Ash would probably have no problem taking out, but who knows? You never know if Team Rocket has a secret weapon to counter people like Ash. **

**Well, I have nothing much to say about this one, other than do remember to Favourite, Follow and Review!**


End file.
